Risk factors as prognostic factors of hospital mortality in patients with acute myocardial infarction

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether there are any differences in the prevalence of risk factors between survivors and nonsurvivors among acute myocardial infarction (AMI) patients hospitalized in a county hospital. METHODS: Case histories of AMI patients treated at Department of Medicine, Bjelovar General Hospital from July 1, 1996 until December 31, 2000 were retrospectively analyzed. AMI was diagnosed using the World Health Organization definition. Demographic factors (age and sex), smoking habits, clinical and laboratory results (hypertension, diabetes, blood lipids--total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol and triglycerides), personal history of angina pectoris, myocardial infarction and stroke and family history of atherothrombotic disease were considered as potential risk factors. Comparisons were made between survivors and nonsurvivors during hospital treatment. On group comparisons Student's t-test and chi2-test were used. Statistical significance was set at p or =5.0 mmol/L) and LDL-cholesterol (> or =3.0 mmol/L) were found in the group of survivors than among nonsurvivors. The latter were 8 years older than survivors (71.0+/-9.3 vs 63.0+/-11.9 years; p or =75 age group; women: 7.1% in or =75 age group). A higher percentage of men nonsurvivors were smokers in comparison to female nonsurvivors that also had a lower level of total cholesterol. The prevalence of hypertension showed no significant sex difference. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of risk factors, especially the most important ones, i. e. hypertension, smoking and abnormal lipid values in AMI patients should be considered according to sex and age. The impact of these factors on patient outcome, i. e. survival rate during hospital treatment, can only be analyzed taking into account sex and age.