Admissions Rate and Timing of Revascularization in the United States in Patients With Non-ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction

Early coronary angiography in NSTEMI: a regional Victorian perspective

BACKGROUND

Current guidelines highlight a paucity of evidence guiding optimal timing for non-ST-elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) in high-risk and non-high-risk cases.

AIM

We assessed long-term major adverse cardiovascular events (MACEs) in NSTEMI patients undergoing early (<24 h) versus delayed (>24 h) coronary angiography at 6 years. Secondary end-points included all-cause mortality and cumulative MACE outcomes.

METHODS

Baseline characteristics and clinical outcomes were assessed among 355 patients presenting to a tertiary regional hospital between 2017 and 2018. Cox proportional hazard models were generated for MACE and all-cause mortality outcomes, adjusting for the Global Registry of Acute Coronary Events (GRACE) score, patient demographics, biomarkers and comorbidities.

RESULTS

Two hundred and seventy patients were included; 147 (54.4%) and 123 (45.6%) underwent early and delayed coronary angiography respectively. Median time to coronary angiography was 13.3 and 45.4 h respectively. At 6 years, 103 patients (38.1%) experienced MACE; 41 in the early group and 62 in the delayed group (hazard ratio (HR) = 2.23; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.50-3.31). After multivariable adjustment, the delayed group had higher rates of MACE (HR = 1.79; 95% CI = 1.19-2.70), all-cause mortality (HR = 2.76; 95% CI = 1.36-5.63) and cumulative MACE (incidence rate ratio = 1.54; 95% CI = 1.12-2.11). Subgroup analysis of MACE outcomes in rural and weekend NSTEMI presentations was not significant between early and delayed coronary angiography (HR = 1.49; 95% CI = 0.83-2.62).

CONCLUSION

Higher MACE rates in the delayed intervention group suggest further investigation is needed. Randomised control trials would be well suited to assess the role of early invasive intervention across all NSTEMI risk groups.

Trends and Outcomes of Acute Myocardial Infarction During the Early COVID-19 Pandemic in the United States: A National Inpatient Sample Study

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

There are limited national data on the trends and outcomes of patients hospitalized with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. We aimed to evaluate the impact of early COVID-19 pandemic on the trends and outcomes of AMI using the National Inpatient Sample (NIS) database.

METHODS

The NIS database was queried from January 2019 to December 2020 to identify adult (age ≥18 years) AMI hospitalizations and were categorized into ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) and non-ST-elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) based on International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision, Clinical Modification codes. In addition, the in-hospital mortality, revascularization, and resource utilization of AMI hospitalizations early in the COVID-19 pandemic (2020) were compared to those in the pre-pandemic period (2019) using multivariate logistic and linear regression analysis.

RESULTS

Amongst 1,709,480 AMI hospitalizations, 209,450 STEMI and 677,355 NSTEMI occurred in 2019 while 196,230 STEMI and 626,445 NSTEMI hospitalizations occurred in 2020. Compared with those in 2019, the AMI hospitalizations in 2020 had higher odds of in-hospital mortality (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 1.27; 95% confidence interval [CI], [1.23-1.32]; p<0.01) and lower odds of percutaneous coronary intervention (aOR, 0.95 [0.92-0.99]; p=0.02), and coronary artery bypass graft (aOR, 0.90 [0.85-0.97]; p<0.01).

CONCLUSIONS

We found a significant decline in AMI hospitalizations and use of revascularization, with higher in-hospital mortality, during the early COVID-19 pandemic period (2020) compared with the pre-pandemic period (2019). Further research into the factors associated with increased mortality could help with preparedness in future pandemics.

Incidence and Long-Term Outcomes of Acute Myocardial Infarction Among Survivors of Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest

BACKGROUND

Despite the increasing long-term survival after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA), the risk of subsequent acute myocardial infarction (AMI) remains poorly understood. We aimed to determine the incidence, predictors, and long-term outcomes of AMI among survivors of OHCA.

METHODS AND RESULTS

We assembled a retrospective cohort of 882 patients with OHCA who survived to 30 days or discharge from the hospital between 2010 and 2019. Survivors of OHCA had an increased risk of subsequent AMI, defined as AMI occurring 30 days after index OHCA or following discharge from the hospital after OHCA, compared with the general population when matched for age and sex (standardized incidence ratio, 4.64 [95% CI, 3.52-6.01]). Age-specific risks of subsequent AMI for men (standardized incidence ratio, 3.29 [95% CI, 2.39-4.42]) and women (standardized incidence ratio, 6.15 [95% CI, 3.27-10.52]) were significantly increased. A total of 7.2%, 8.3%, and 14.3% of survivors of OHCA had a subsequent AMI at 3 years, 5 years, and end of follow-up, respectively. Age at OHCA (hazard ratio [HR], 1.04 [95% CI, 1.02-1.06]) and past medical history of prior AMI, defined as any AMI preceding or during the index OHCA event (HR, 1.84 [95% CI, 1.05-3.22]), were associated with subsequent AMI, while an initial shockable rhythm was not (HR, 1.00 [95% CI, 0.52-1.94]). Survivors of OHCA with subsequent AMI had a higher risk of death (HR, 1.58 [95% CI, 1.12-2.22]) than those without.

CONCLUSIONS

Survivors of OHCA are at an increased risk of subsequent AMI compared with the general population. Prior AMI, but not an initial shockable rhythm, increases this risk, while subsequent AMI predicts death. Preventive measures for AMI including cardiovascular risk factor control and revascularization may thus improve outcomes in selected patients with cardiac pathogenesis.

Troponin level at presentation as a prognostic factor among patients presenting with non-ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction

BACKGROUND

Timely reperfusion within 120 min is strongly recommended in patients presenting with non-ST-segment myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) with very high-risk features. Evidence regarding the use of high-sensitivity cardiac troponin (hs-cTn) concentration upon admission for the risk-stratification of patients presenting with NSTEMI to expedite percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) and thus potentially improve outcomes is limited.

METHODS

All patients admitted to a tertiary care center ICCU between July 2019 and July 2022 were included. Hs-cTnI levels on presentaion were recorded, dividing patients into quartiles based on baseline hs-cTnI. Association between initial hs-cTnI and all-cause mortality during up to 3 years of follow-up was studied.

RESULTS

A total of 544 NSTEMI patients with a median age of 67 were included. Hs-cTnI levels in each quartile were: (a) ≤122, (b) 123-680, (c) 681-2877, and (d) ≥2878 ng/L. There was no difference between the initial hs-cTnI level groups regarding age and comorbidities. A higher mortality rate was observed in the highest hs-cTnI quartile as compared with the lowest hs-cTnI quartile (16.2% vs. 7.35%, p = .03) with hazard ratio (HR) for mortality of 2.6 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.23-5.4; p = .012) in the unadjusted model, and HR of 2.06 (95% CI: 1.01-4.79; p = .047) with adjustment for age, gender, serum creatinine, and significant comorbidities.

CONCLUSIONS

Patients with NSTEMI and higher hs-cTnI levels upon admission faced elevated mortality risk. This underscores the need for further prospective investigations into early reperfusion strategies' impact on NSTEMI patients' mortality, based on admission troponin elevation.

Trends in incidence and clinical outcome of non-ST elevation myocardial infarction in patients with amyloidosis in the United States, 2010-2020

Study objective

To assess temporal changes in clinical profile and in-hospital outcome of patients with amyloidosis presenting with non-ST elevation myocardial infarction, NSTEMI.

Design/setting

We conducted a retrospective observational study using the National Inpatient Sample (NIS) database from January 1, 2010, to December 31, 2020.

Main outcomes

Primary outcome of interest was trend in adjusted in-hospital mortality in patients with amyloidosis presenting with NSTEMI from 2010 to 2020. Our secondary outcomes were trend in rate of coronary revascularization, and trend in duration of hospitalization.

Results

We identified 272,896 hospitalizations for amyloidosis. There was a temporal increase in incidence of NSTEMI among patients aged 18-44 years from 15.5 % to 28.0 %, a reverse trend was observed in 45-64 years: 22.1 % to 17.7 %, p = 0.043. There was no statistically significant difference in rate of coronary revascularization from 2010 to 2020; 16.3 % to 14.2 %, p = 0.86. We observed an increased odds of all-cause in-hospital mortality in patients with NSTEMI compared to those without NSTEMI (aOR = 2.2, 95 % CI: 1.9-2.6, p < 0.001) but there was a decrease trend in mortality from 21.5 % to 11.3 %, p = 0.013 for trend. Hospitalization duration was also observed to decreased from 14.1 days to 10.9 days during the study period (p = 0.055 for trend).

Conclusion

In patients with amyloidosis presenting with NSTEMI, there was increased incidence of NSTEMI among young adults, a steady trend in coronary revascularization, and a decreasing trend of adjusted all-cause in-hospital mortality and length of hospitalization from 2010 to 2020 in the United States.

Impact of pre-procedural diastolic blood pressure on major adverse cardiovascular events in non ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction patients following revascularization

Previous reports have observed a consistent J-shaped relationship between cardiac events and diastolic blood pressure (DBP). However, the EPHESUS study clearly showed that myocardial reperfusion abolished the J-shaped association, suggesting a different association pattern after revascularization. Therefore, in this study, we investigated the different patterns in which DBP affects cardiovascular risk in non ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) patients after revascularization, which may benefit the risk stratification for NSTEMI patients. We obtained the NSTEMI database from the Dryad data repository and analyzed the association between preprocedural DBP and long-term major adverse cardiovascular events (MACEs) in 1486 patients with NSTEMI following percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Multivariate regression models were used to assess the impact of DBP on outcomes in an adjusted fashion according to DBP tertiles. The p value for the trend was calculated using linear regression. When examined as a continuous variable, a multivariate regression analysis was repeated. Pattern stability was verified by interaction and stratified analyses. The median (interquartile range) age of the patients was 61.00 (53.00-68.00) years, and 63.32% were male. Cardiac death showed a graded increase as the DBP tertile increased (p for trend = 0.0369). When examined as a continuous variable, a 1 mmHg increase in DBP level was associated with an 18% higher risk of long-term cardiac death (95% CI: 1.01-1.36, p = 0.0311) and a 2% higher risk of long-term all-cause death (95% CI: 1.01-1.04; p = 0.0178). The association pattern remained stable when stratified by sex, age, diabetes, hypertension, and smoking status. An association between low DBP and higher cardiovascular risk was not observed in our study. We showed that higher preprocedural DBP increased the risk of long-term cardiac death and all-cause death in patients with NSTEMI following PCI.

Identification of Optical Coherence Tomography-Defined Coronary Plaque Erosion by Preprocedural Computed Tomography Angiography

Background A previous coronary computed tomography (CT) angiographic study failed to discriminate optical coherence tomography-defined intact fibrous cap culprit lesions (IFC group) from those with ruptured fibrous caps (RFC group) in patients with coronary artery disease. This study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic efficacy of preprocedural coronary CT imaging in identifying subsequently performed optical coherence tomography-defined plaque rupture or erosion at culprit lesions in patients with non-ST-segment-elevation acute myocardial infarction. Methods and Results This study used data from 2 recently published studies that tested the hypothesis that coronary CT angiography (CCTA) before percutaneous coronary intervention may provide diagnostic information on the high-risk atherosclerotic burden in patients with non-ST-segment-elevation acute myocardial infarction. In the analysis of 186 patients, optical coherence tomography identified 106 RFC plaques and 80 IFC plaques as the culprit lesions. On CT, the prevalence of low-attenuation plaque, positive remodeling, napkin-ring sign, and spotty calcification were all significantly lower in the IFC group. The culprit vessel pericoronary adipose tissue inflammation and coronary artery calcium scores were significantly lower in the IFC group than in the RFC group. The absence of low-attenuation plaque, napkin-ring sign, zero coronary artery calcium, and low pericoronary adipose tissue inflammation were independent predictors of IFC. When stratified into 5 subgroups according to the number of these 4 CT factors, the prevalence of IFC was 8.3%, 20.8%, 44.6%, 75.6%, and 100% (P<0.001), respectively. Conclusions Preprocedural comprehensive coronary CT imaging, including coronary artery calcium and pericoronary adipose tissue inflammation assessment, can accurately and noninvasively identify optical coherence tomography-defined IFC or RFC culprit lesions.

Impact of COVID-19 on Acute Myocardial Infarction Care

The global health crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has evolved rapidly to overburden health care organizations around the world and has resulted in significant morbidity and mortality. Many countries have reported a substantial and rapid reduction in hospital admissions for acute coronary syndromes and percutaneous coronary intervention. The reasons for such abrupt changes in health care delivery are multifactorial and include lockdowns, reduction in outpatient services, reluctance to seek medical attention for fear of contracting the virus, and restrictive visitation policies adopted during the pandemic. This review discusses the impact of COVID-19 on important aspects of acute MI care.

The value of PRECISE-DAPT score and lesion complexity for predicting all-cause mortality in patients with NSTEMI

BACKGROUND

We aimed to evaluate the prognostic effects of stroke risk scores (SRS), SYNTAX score (SX score), and PRECISE-DAPT score on mortality in patients with non-ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI). Three hundred forty-three patients hospitalized with a diagnosis of NSTEMI and underwent coronary angiography (CAG) between January 1, 2022, and June 1, 2022, were included retrospectively in this single-center study. Patients' demographic, clinical and routine biochemical parameters were recorded. The scores (CHADS2, CHA2DS2-VASc, R2CHA2DS2-VASc, ATRIA, SX score, PRECISE-DAPT) of each patient were calculated. Participants were then divided into two groups by in-hospital status; all-cause mortality (+) and all-cause mortality (-).

RESULTS

Overall, the mean age was 63.5 ± 11.8 years, of whom 63.3% (n = 217) were male. In-hospital mortality occurred in 31 (9.3%) patients. In the study population, those who died had significantly higher SX (p < 0.001), PRECISE-DAPT (p < 0.001), and ATRIA (p = 0.002) scores than those who survived. In logistic regression analysis, PRECISE-DAPT score [Odds ratio (OR) = 1.063, 95% CI 1.014-1.115; p = 0.012] and SX score [OR: 1.061, 95% CI 1.015-1.109, p = 0.009] were found to be independent predictors of in-hospital all-cause mortality among NSTEMI patients. In ROC analysis, the PRECISE-DAPT score performed better discriminative ability than the SX score in determining in-hospital mortality [Area under the curve = 0.706, 95% CI 0.597-0.814; p < 0.001].

CONCLUSIONS

During the hospital stay, both PRECISE-DAPT and SX scores showed better performance than SRS in predicting all-cause mortality among NSTEMI patients undergoing CAG. Aside from their primary purpose, both scores might be useful in determining risk stratification for such patient populations.

Implantable cardioverter-defibrillator placement among patients with left ventricular ejection fraction ≤35 % at least 40 days after acute myocardial infarction

Background

Implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) reduce the risk of sudden cardiac death among patients with persistently reduced (≤35 %) left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) at least 40 days following acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Few prior studies have used LVEF measured after the 40-day waiting period to examine primary prevention ICD placement.

Methods

We sought to determine factors associated with ICD placement among patients who met LVEF criteria post-MI within a large integrated health care system in the U.S by conducting a retrospective cohort study of Veteran patients hospitalized for AMI from 2004 to 2017 who had documented LVEF ≤35 % from echocardiograms performed between 40 and 455 (90 days +1 year) days post-MI. We used multivariable logistic regression to examine factors associated with ICD placement.

Results

Of 12,893 patients with LVEF ≤35 % at least 40 days post-MI, 2176 (16.9 %) received an ICD between 91- and 455-days post-MI. Younger age, fewer comorbidities, revascularization with PCI, and greater use of GDMT were associated with increased odds of receiving an ICD. However, half of patients treated with a beta-blocker, ACE inhibitor or angiotensin receptor blocker, and mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist prior to LVEF assessment did not receive an ICD. Eligible Black patients were less likely (odds ratio 0.80, 95 % confidence interval 0.69-0.92) to receive an ICD than White patients.

Conclusion

Many factors affect ICD placement among Veteran patients with a confirmed LVEF ≤35 % at least 40 days post-MI. Greater understanding of factors influencing ICD placement would help clinicians ensure guideline-concordant care.

The timing of surgical revascularisation in acute myocardial infarction: when should we intervene?

INTRODUCTION

Coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) is a crucial intervention in acute myocardial infarction (AMI), particularly when AMI is not amenable for management with primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). To optimise outcome in these patients, surgical teams must consider a host of predictive factors, with the most prominent being the timing of CABG. Despite numerous studies exploring timing of CABG following AMI in the past, optimal surgical timing remains controversial. The mortality rates vary with timing of CABG, but confounding factors such as age, impaired pulmonary function, renal insufficiency, and poor left ventricular function may contribute to varied outcomes reported.

EVIDENCE ACQUISITON

An electronic literature search of articles that discussed acute myocardial presentation and urgent in-patient or elective CABG was conducted.

EVIDENCE SYNTHESIS

The evidence was synthesised based on each reported article and their outcomes.

CONCLUSIONS

Current literature suggests multiple factors can guide CABG timing including, type of AMI at initial presentation, distinctive pathological status and patient characteristics. Thus, there is a need for large, multi-centre studies to identify optimal CABG timing in complex coronary artery disease or failed PCI in patients with AMI. Future guidelines should emphasise patient cohorts by taking their risk factors into consideration. As such, a need for greater cardiac screening methods and development of scoring systems can aid in the optimisation of CABG timing.

Differences in mortality and causes of death between STEMI and NSTEMI in the early and late phases after acute myocardial infarction

BACKGROUND

The detailed causes of death in non-ST-segment-elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) have not been adequately evaluated compared to those in ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI).

METHODS

The study population was 6,228 AMI patients who underwent percutaneous coronary intervention (STEMI: 4,625 patients and NSTEMI: 1,603 patients). The primary outcome was all-cause death.

RESULTS

Within 6 months after AMI, the adjusted mortality risk was not significantly different between NSTEMI patients and STEMI patients (HR: 0.83, 95%CI: 0.67-1.03, P = 0.09). Regarding the causes of death within 6 months after AMI, mechanical complications more frequently occurred in STEMI patients than in NSTEMI patients, while proportions of post resuscitation status on arrival and heart failure were higher in in NSTEMI patients than in STEMI patients. Beyond 6 months after AMI, the adjusted mortality risk of NSTEMI relative to STEMI was not significantly different. (HR: 1.04, 95%CI: 0.90-1.20, P = 0.59). Regarding causes of death beyond 6 months after AMI, almost half of deaths were cardiovascular causes in both groups, and breakdown of causes of death was similar between NSTEMI and STEMI.

CONCLUSION

The mortality risk within and beyond 6 months after AMI were not significantly different between STEMI patients and NSTEMI patients after adjusting confounders. Deaths due to post resuscitation status and heart failure were more frequent in NSTEMI within 6 months after AMI.