Death and readmission in the year after hospital admission with cardiovascular disease: the Hunter Area Heart and Stroke Register

Objectives: To compare outcomes one year after hospital admission for patie nts initially discharged with a diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction (A MI), other ischaemic heart disease (other IHD), congestive heart failure (C HF) or stroke. Design: Cohort study. Setting: Hunter Area Heart and Stroke Register, which registers all patient s admitted with heart disease or stroke to any of the 22 hospitals in the H unter Area Health Service in New South Wales. Patients: 4981 patients with AMI, other IHD, CHF or stroke admitted to hospital as an emergency between 1 July 1995 and 30 June 1997 and followed for at least one year. Main outcome measures: Death from any cause or emergency hospital readmissi on for cardiovascular disease. Results: In-hospital mortality varied from 1% of those with other IHD to 22 % of those with stroke. Almost a third of all patients discharged alive (an d 38% of those aged 70 or more) had died or been readmitted within one year . This varied from 22% of those with stroke to 49% of those with CHF. The c auses of death and readmission were from a spectrum of cardiovascular disea se, regardless of the cause of the original hospital admission. Conclusions: Data from this population register show the poor outcome, espe cially with increasing age, among patients admitted to hospital with cardio vascular disease. This should alert us to determine whether optimal seconda ry prevention strategies are being adopted among such patients.