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Observational Study
. 2017 Aug 21;6(8):e005968.
doi: 10.1161/JAHA.117.005968.

Delayed Care and Mortality Among Women and Men With Myocardial Infarction

Raffaele Bugiardini  1 , Beatrice Ricci  2 , Edina Cenko  2 , Zorana Vasiljevic  3 , Sasko Kedev  4 , Goran Davidovic  5   6 , Marija Zdravkovic  7 , Davor Miličić  8 , Mirza Dilic  9 , Olivia Manfrini  2 , Akos Koller  10   11 , Lina Badimon  12
Affiliations
Observational Study

Delayed Care and Mortality Among Women and Men With Myocardial Infarction

Raffaele Bugiardini et al. J Am Heart Assoc. .

Abstract

Background: Women with ST-segment-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) have higher mortality rates than men. We investigated whether sex-related differences in timely access to care among STEMI patients may be a factor associated with excess risk of early mortality in women.

Methods and results: We identified 6022 STEMI patients who had information on time of symptom onset to time of hospital presentation at 41 hospitals participating in the ISACS-TC (International Survey of Acute Coronary Syndromes in Transitional Countries) registry (NCT01218776) from October 2010 through April 2016. Patients were stratified into time-delay cohorts. We estimated the 30-day risk of all-cause mortality in each cohort. Despite similar delays in seeking care, the overall time from symptom onset to hospital presentation was longer for women than men (median: 270 minutes [range: 130-776] versus 240 minutes [range: 120-600]). After adjustment for baseline variables, female sex was independently associated with greater risk of 30-day mortality (odds ratio: 1.58; 95% confidence interval, 1.27-1.97). Sex differences in mortality following STEMI were no longer observed for patients having delays from symptom onset to hospital presentation of ≤1 hour (odds ratio: 0.77; 95% confidence interval, 0.29-2.02).

Conclusions: Sex difference in mortality following STEMI persists and appears to be driven by prehospital delays in hospital presentation. Women appear to be more vulnerable to prolonged untreated ischemia.

Clinical trial registration: URL: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/. Unique identifier: NCT01218776.

Keywords: acute coronary syndrome; mortality; prehospital delay; women.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flow diagram of patients entered into the study. CABG indicates coronary artery bypass grafting; ISACS‐TC, International Survey of Acute Coronary Syndromes in Transitional Countries; PCI, percutaneous coronary intervention; STEMI, ST‐segment–elevation myocardial infarction.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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