National Trends in the Incidence, Management, and Outcomes of Heart Failure Complications in Patients Hospitalized for ST-Segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction

OBJECTIVE: To analyze contemporary trends in the incidence, management, and clinical outcomes of heart failure (HF) complications in patients hospitalized for ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) in the United States. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Using the 2003 through 2010 Nationwide Inpatient Sample databases, all patients with STEMI who were 18 years and older with acute HF were identified. Overall trends in the incidence of HF, coronary intervention, and in-hospital mortality were analyzed. RESULTS: Of 1,990,002 hospitalizations with a primary diagnosis of STEMI, 471,525 (23.7%) had HF complication (decreasing from 25.4% [95% CI, 25.3%-25.6%] in 2003 to 20.7% [95% CI, 20.5%-20.8%]) in 2010 (P trend<.001). The incidence of cardiogenic shock in patients with HF-complicated STEMI increased from 13.9% (95% CI, 13.6%-14.1%) to 22.6% (95% CI, 22.2%-23.0%) during this period (P trend<.001). From 2003 through 2010, the use of diagnostic coronary angiography and percutaneous coronary intervention increased in patients with HF-complicated STEMI from 44.3% to 62.1% and from 25.0% to 48.1%, respectively. In-hospital mortality decreased significantly in patients with HF-complicated STEMI (from 18.1% to 15.1%) and in subgroups of those with (from 42.4% to 29.9%) and without (from 14.1% to 10.8%) cardiogenic shock (all P trend<.001). The adjusted odds ratio (AOR) (per year) of death was 0.992 (95% CI, 0.988-0.997; P<.001), which changed significantly after additional adjustment for coronary intervention (AOR [per year], 1.012; 95% CI, 1.008-1.017; P<.001). CONCLUSION: The incidence and in-hospital mortality of HF-complicated STEMI has decreased significantly during recent times along with increased use of percutaneous coronary intervention and diagnostic coronary angiography.