Clinical characteristics and early outcomes of very elderly patients in the reperfusion era.

Background: Not much data is available regarding "real-world" clinical experience of very elderly patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in the reperfusion era.

Methods: We reviewed 483 patients (26%) between the ages of 75 and 85 from the 1855 patients with AMI. We analyzed 264 patients treated with reperfusion therapy (55%) and 219 patients treated with conservative therapy (45%) on their clinical characteristics and early outcomes.

Results: Patients treated with reperfusion therapy were slightly younger (79.0 vs. 80.0 years, P=0.01), presented earlier (205 vs. 400 minutes, P<0.01) and had higher peak creatine kinase values (2634 vs. 1407 IU/l, P<0.01) than those treated with conservative therapy. Other clinical profiles including sex, prior myocardial infarction, hypertension, diabetes, and infarct location were similar to each other. There was a 92% success for reperfusion therapy. The incidence of recurrent ischemia, cardiac rupture, and cerebral hemorrhage was not significantly different between the two groups. In-hospital mortality in this study was 20.5%. In-hospital mortality was not significantly different between the two groups (19% vs. 23%, P=0.25). The multivariate analysis showed that age, infarct location, and Killip class were correlated to in-hospital mortality. The leading cause of in-hospital death was pump failure.

Conclusions: Older age and late presentation were correlated to conservative therapy in very elderly patients with AMI. Early outcomes were similar between the two treatment groups. In-hospital mortality seemed to be associated with impaired myocardial reserve.