IS PROPHYLACTIC TREATMENT AFTER MYOCARDIAL-INFARCTION EVIDENCE-BASED

Objective. We aimed to evaluate the use of evidence-based prophylactic treatment after myocardial infarction on hospital discharge and in pr imary care after 1 year of hospitalization. Methods and Results. We co nducted a 1-year prospective study of all the patients discharged from a tertiary hospital who had been treated for myocardial infarction fr om January 1 to December 31 1995. Three hundred and eighty surviving p atients were consecutively discharged from the hospital. Seventy per c ent of patients were treated with aspirin, 45% with beta-blockers, 27% with calcium channel blockers, 26% with ACE inhibitors, 40% with nitr ates and 8% with cholesterol-lowering drugs after discharge from the h ospital. In primary care, prescription of lipid-lowering drugs increas ed to 17%, while prescription of betablockers decreased to 34%. ACE in hibitor prescriptions at discharge were clearly more common in patient s with impaired ventricular function or heart failure (57%). Conclusio n. According to the evidence, there is still potential for reducing th e risk of a further ischaemic event or death in patients with MI, espe cially by increasing the use of beta-blockers and lipid-lowering drugs .