Trends in Mortality Following Acute Myocardial Infarction Among Dialysis Patients in the United States Over 15 Years.

BACKGROUND: We sought to determine 15-year trends in mortality rates among dialysis patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in the contemporary era.

METHODS AND RESULTS: Using the US Renal Data System database, we assembled 4 study cohorts of period-prevalent dialysis patients in 1993, 1998, 2003, and 2008 who were hospitalized for an index AMI in that calendar year. ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) and non-STEMI were identified, and in-hospital mortality was calculated. Cumulative probability of death during 2-year follow-up after AMI admission was estimated by the Kaplan-Meier method and adjusted for patient characteristics. A total of 42 933 dialysis patients with AMI were included. Between 1993 (n=4494) and 2008 (n=16 361), proportional increases occurred in patient groups aged ≥75 years (23% and 31%, respectively; P<0.001), of black race (25% and 31%, respectively; P<0.001), with end-stage renal disease due to diabetes (42% and 55%, respectively; P<0.001), and with non-STEMI (42.2% and 80.7%, respectively; P<0.001). For all patients with AMI, in-hospital mortality rates decreased (31.9% in 1993, 18.8% in 2008; P<0.001), as did unadjusted 2-year cumulative probability of death after AMI admission (76.5% in 1993, 71.5% in 2008; P<0.001). Between 1993 and 2008, among STEMI patients, in-hospital mortality (38.2% and 25.9%, P<0.001) and unadjusted 2-year cumulative probability of mortality (77.3% and 71.2%, P<0.001) decreased, but decreases did not occur among NSTEMI patients (14.2% and 14.9%, P=0.47, and 70.9% and 70.1%, P=0.52 respectively).

CONCLUSIONS: In-hospital mortality and 2-year cumulative probability of death following AMI among dialysis patients decreased between 1993 and 2008 but only among STEMI patients, coincident with increased in-hospital percutaneous coronary intervention rates. Period-prevalent cases of non-STEMI markedly increased without interval change in survival.