Objectives: to describe trends in attack rate, treatment, and outcomes of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in Tuscany Region (Central Italy).
Design: population-based epidemiological study using the Tuscany Acute Myocardial Infarction Registry.
Setting and participants: cases have been identified by record linkage between the hospital discharge database and the mortality registry, and divided into hospitalised AMI (1997-2012) and out-of-hospital coronary deaths (1997-2010). Details on hospitalised cases based on the presence/absence of ST-segment elevation (STEMI / NSTEMI) can be detected for the period 2001-2012.
Main outcomemeasures: distribution by calendar time, gender, and type of event of absolute frequencies, age-standardised attack rates (per 100,000; standard Tuscany population, 2001) and percentages (standard: total hospitalised cases in 2011) of invasive cardiac procedures and 28-day case fatality in hospitalised cases.
Results: a reduction in both out-of-hospital coronary deaths and STEMI hospitalisations (attack rates, respectively, - 2.3% and -3.9% in males, -3.3% and -4.1% in females) and an increase in NSTEMI hospitalisations (+13.1% in males and +13.3% in females) were shown. The use of invasive cardiac procedures (PCI, coronary angiography) in hospitalised cases shows a considerable increase over time both in STEMI and in NSTEMI. The proportion, however, always remains lower in the whole period after the age of 70 and in women. The short term prognosis in hospitalised AMI cases shows an improvement over time, which, however, disappears when stratified by type of AMI. This trend is mainly related to the different weight that STEMI and NSTEMI have on incidence over time (increase in attack rates for NSTEMI and reduction for STEMI, with worst prognosis).
Conclusions: results confirm the important changes in epidemiology, clinical presentation, and treatment of acute coronary disease in Tuscany, previously identified in the international literature. Differences in coronary reperfusion treatment of hospitalised cases still persist by age and gender. Additional efforts are needed to ensure equity in access to the best treatment for AMI.