Background: Few studies have direct estimates of long-term survival after acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Our objective was to provide such estimates, and trends in these estimates, using data from a single hospital over a 23-year period.
Design: A retrospective cohort study.
Methods: We examined 28-day, 1-year and 10-year case fatality among 7635 men and 4243 women admitted to Haukeland University Hospital with a first AMI, during 1979-2001. Information on cardiovascular diagnoses and procedures were registered in the Western Norway Cardiovascular Registry, and data on deaths were obtained from the Cause of Death Registry, Statistics Norway.
Results: From 1979-1985 to 1994-2001, crude 28-day case fatality declined from 31.1 to 19.8% in men and from 37.3 to 26.8% in women (both, P-trend <0.0001). Crude 10-year case fatality declined from 69.5-55.5% in men and from 80.8-66.1% in women (both, P-trend <0.0001). Landmark analysis showed a decline in 1-10-year case fatality, among patients less than 60 years of age from 26.1 to 13.8% in men, and from 33.3 to 6.4% in women. In patients > or =60 years, the 28-day, 1-year and 10-year age-adjusted case-fatality rates were significantly lower in women than men.
Conclusion: Landmark analysis showed substantial improvement in up to 10 years survival after hospitalization for a first AMI. A significantly lower age-adjusted case fatality in women > or =60 years already after 28 days compared with men is specifically noticed.