U. Ludwigs et al., Predicting in-hospital mortality in acute myocardial infarction: Impact ofthrombolytic therapy on APACHE II performance, SC CARDIOVA, 34(4), 2000, pp. 371-376
Objective: To study the usefulness of the Second Acute Physiology and Chron
ic Health Evaluation (APACHE II) scoring system for prognostication of in-h
ospital mortality in patients with acute myocardial infarction treated with
thrombolysis.
Design: A prospective validation study was conducted at a medical intensive
care unit at a university hospital. Over a 3-year period, 1714 patients wi
th acute myocardial infarction were studied (mean age 72 +/- 10 years). Thr
ombolytic therapy was the prescribed treatment for 316 patients and total h
ospital mortality was 16%.
Results: The patients who received thrombolysis were younger, had higher bl
ood pressure, lower heart and respiratory rates and higher Glasgow Coma Sca
le scores. Total in-hospital mortality was 9.5% in patients treated with th
rombolysis and 17.1% in untreated patients (p < 0.01). Corresponding APACHE
II predictions of mortality were 11.8 and 15.8% (p < 0.01). There was no s
ignificant difference between observed and predicted mortality. When a deci
sion rule of 50% predicted risk of death was employed, sensitivity was 20%
and specificity 99% in the thrombolytic group, while the corresponding figu
res in the nonthrombolytic group were 31% and 97%, respectively.
Conclusions: In-hospital mortality in groups of patients treated with or wi
thout thrombolysis for acute myocardial infarction could be predicted with
the APACHE II scoring system. Prognostication in individual patients is not
possible with the APACHE II system.