MORTALITY AND RISK INDICATORS FOR DEATH DURING 5 YEARS AFTER ACUTE MYOCARDIAL-INFARCTION AMONG PATIENTS WITH AND WITHOUT ST ELEVATION ON ADMISSION ELECTROCARDIOGRAM

We related observations in the electrocardiogram (EGG) on admission to hospital among consecutive patients hospitalized in one single hospit al with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and related the prognosis du ring the following 5 years to these observations, Results: Of 863 pati ents, 63% had ECG signs of myocardial ischemia, but only 41% had ST el evation on ED admission. Patients with ST elevation had a 5-year morta lity of 44% as compared with 58% in patients without ST elevation (p < 0.001), Patients with the highest mortality were those with a patholo gic ECG including signs of previous AMI, bundle branch block and pacem aker EGG, but with no ECG sign of acute ischemia. Patients with the lo west mortality were those with a nonpathologic ECG on admission. Concl usion: Among consecutive patients hospitalized with AMI, less than hal f had ST elevation on admission to hospital. These patients had a lowe r mortality during 5 years of follow-up than patients without ST eleva tion.