Background Elderly patients with acute myocardial infarction have much
to gain from reperfusion with thrombolytic therapy but are also at in
creased risk of adverse events. We examined outcomes according to age
of patients receiving thrombolysis in an international trial. Methods
and Results Patients were randomized to streptokinase plus subcutaneou
s heparin, streptokinase plus intravenous heparin, accelerated tissue
plasminogen activator (TPA) plus intravenous heparin, or streptokinase
and TPA plus intravenous heparin. Clinical outcomes at 30 days (death
, stroke, and nonfatal, disabling stroke) and 1-year mortality were su
mmarized descriptively for patients aged <65 (n=24 708), 65 to 74 (n=1
1 201), 75 to 85 (n=4625), and >85 years (n=412) and assessed as conti
nuous functions of age. Older patients had a higher-risk profile with
regard to baseline clinical and angiographic characteristics. Mortalit
y at 30 days increased markedly with age (3.0%, 9.5%, 19.6%, and 30.3%
in the four groups, respectively), as did stroke, cardiogenic shock,
bleeding, and reinfarction. Combined death or disabling stroke occurre
d less often with accelerated TPA in all but the oldest patients, who
showed a weak trend toward a lower incidence with streptokinase plus s
ubcutaneous heparin: odds ratio 1.13; 95% confidence interval 0.6, 2.1
. Similarly, accelerated TPA treatment resulted in lower 1-year mortal
ity in all but the oldest patients (47% TPA versus 40.3% streptokinase
). Conclusions Lower mortality and greater net clinical benefit were s
een with accelerated TPA in patients aged less than or equal to 85 yea
rs. Because data are limited for patients aged >85 years, the relative
superiority of a given thrombolytic regimen cannot be determined. The
interactions of stroke and mortality with newer thrombolytic strategi
es must be examined explicitly in older patients.