[Mortality in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction in Germany : Comparison of routine data vs. quality assurance vs. registry].

The recording of mortality after acute myocardial infarction can be based on different data, some of which yield very different results. These differences are due to a number of factors, including the definition of acute myocardial infarction, patient selection and the methods used to determine mortality. While routine data are primarily used for billing purposes, procedural data for coronary angiography and percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) are used for external quality assurance and therefore only include patients who undergo invasive diagnostic procedures. Registries include patients with a disease, e.g., ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction, according to defined criteria. The mortality data published for Germany differ considerably depending on the source of the data. The manuscript discusses the problems of recording the mortality of myocardial infarction in Germany and attempts to propose solutions for improving data quality in order to be able to evaluate possibilities for optimizing treatment.