Objective: To compare healthcare in acute myocardial infarction (AMI) treatment between contrasting health systems using comparable representative data from Europe and USA.
Design: Repeated cross-sectional retrospective cohort study.
Setting: Acute care hospitals in Portugal and USA during 2000-2010.
Participants: Adults discharged with AMI.
Interventions: Coronary revascularizations procedures (percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery).
Main outcome measures: In-hospital mortality and length of stay.
Results: We identified 1 566 601 AMI hospitalizations. Relative to the USA, more hospitalizations in Portugal presented with elevated ST-segment, and fewer had documented comorbidities. Age-sex-adjusted AMI hospitalization rates decreased in USA but increased in Portugal. Crude procedure rates were generally lower in Portugal (PCI: 44% vs. 47%; CABG: 2% vs. 9%, 2010) but only CABG rates differed significantly after standardization. PCI use increased annually in both countries but CABG decreased only in the USA (USA: 0.95 [0.94, 0.95], Portugal: 1.04 [1.02, 1.07], odds ratios). Both countries observed annual decreases in risk-adjusted mortality (USA: 0.97 [0.965, 0.969]; Portugal: 0.99 [0.979, 0.991], hazard ratios). While between-hospital variability in procedure use was larger in USA, the risk of dying in a high relative to a low mortality hospital (hospitals in percentiles 95 and 5) was 2.65 in Portugal when in USA was only 1.03.
Conclusions: Although in-hospital mortality due to an AMI improved in both countries, patient management in USA seems more effective and alarming disparities in quality of care across hospitals are more likely to exist in Portugal.
Keywords: acute myocardial infarction; international comparison; patient management.
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