A real life registry to evaluate patient profile, diagnostic and practice patterns in Acute Coronary Syndrome in Turkey: TURK-AKS study

Background and objective: Evaluation of patient characteristics and the patterns of diagnostic therapeutic practices of acute coronary syndromes (ACS) in Turkey.Methods: A total of 3695 ACS patients (mean age: 60 ± 12 years, 73% males) were included in this prospective, multicenter, non-interventional registry.Results: ST-segment elevation and non-ST segment elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) were identified in 57% and 43% of patients, respectively. In 65% of cases admission was directly to the index hospital. Ambulance transport was higher in rural sites comparing to urban areas (53.4 vs. 38.4%, p < 0.001).Admission to a hospital within the first 2 h of symptom onset was 42% while after 12 h was 24%. Spontaneous anginal relief (44%) was the leading cause of late hospital admission. Fibrinolytic treatment was administered in 23% of the patients. The most common in-hospital interventions were coronary angiography for NSTEMI (18%), primary percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty for STEMI (17.5%) and coronary angiography after lytic therapy (12.1%).Conclusions: In a representative sampling for Turkish population five years ago, this registry of ACS revealed the predominancy of male gender, urban settlement, and presentation with STEMI. The delay between onset of symptoms and hospital admission was more prominent in rural sites, among females and in NSTEMI patients when compared to urban areas, males and STEMI patients