Open AccessThe prognosis of anterior myocardial infarction revisited: A community‐wide study
Author(s) -
Kennedy H. L.,
Goldberg R. J.,
Szklo M.,
Tonascia J. A.
Publication year - 1979
Publication title -
clinical cardiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.263
H-Index - 72
eISSN - 1932-8737
pISSN - 0160-9289
DOI - 10.1002/clc.4960020612
Subject(s) - medicine , myocardial infarction , anterior wall , infarction , case fatality rate , cardiology , surgery , epidemiology
A study was carried out in metropolitan Baltimore in which the short‐ and long‐term prognosis of 655 patients with anterior myocardial infarction (MI) was compared with that of 520 patients with inferior/posterior MI. The study was performed on a community‐wide basis in two time periods before the clinical introduction and widespread use of beta‐blockade therapy. After simultaneous adjustment for several socio‐demographic and clinical variables, the in‐hospital case fatality rate was greater for patients with anterior (27.5%) than for those with inferior/posterior MI (22.9%) (p<0.05). Similarly, for those discharged alive from the hospital and followed up for as long as 10 years, patients with infarction of the anterior wall had a significantly poorer long‐term survival than that of patients with infarction of the inferior/posterior wall (p<0.05). These results suggest that closer surveillance should be directed at patients with anterior myocardial infarction, both during the acute phase and after hospital discharge.