IS AGE A PREDICTOR OF MORTALITY IN PATIENTS WITH ACUTE MYOCARDIAL-INFARCTION

Background: The aim of this study is to define the role of age as a pr edictor of mortality in patients with acute myocardial infarction. Met hods: We conducted a retrospective analysis of 100 consecutive cases o f acute myocardial infarction admitted to our coronary care unit. Pati ents were divided into two age groups, those 70 years of age or less a nd those over 70 years of age. There were 49 subjects in the younger g roup and 51 in the older group. Personal and medical histories were re corded for each patient, as were clinical data, laboratory results, EC G results, and all data regarding time spent in hospital and therapy. Results: The main results show that the older group had a higher preva lence of dyspnea (52.0% vs 28.6%, P < 0.05) and advanced New York Hear t Association (NYHA) functional class symptoms (43.1% vs 16.3%, P < 0. 01), whereas no differences were found between the proportions of the two groups experiencing advanced Killip class symptoms. A greater prev alence of heart failure was observed in the older group (43.1% vs 22.4 %, P < 0.05). In-hospital mortality was 6.1% in the younger group and 17.6% in the older group. To determine which factors were predictive o f both in hospital mortality and I-year postdischarge mortality, we pe rformed two discriminant analyses, taking into consideration the poten tially useful variables of the univariate analysis. Conclusions: In th is study, age does not represent an independent risk factor that direc tly affects both early and late mortality but rather acts indirectly o n certain factors that are seen to be predictive in influencing progno stic decision.