Socioeconomic environment and survival in patients after ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI): a longitudinal study for the City of Vienna

OBJECTIVES: This study investigates the relationship between socioeconomic environment (SEE) and survival after ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) separately for women and men in the City of Vienna, Austria. DESIGN: Hospital-based observational data of STEMI patients are linked with district-level information on SEE and the mortality register, enabling survival analyses with a 19-year follow-up (2000–2018). SETTING: The analysis is set at the main tertiary care hospital of the City of Vienna. On weekends, it is the only hospital in charge of treating STEMIs and thus provides representative data for the Viennese population. PARTICIPANTS: The study comprises a total of 1481 patients with STEMI, including women and men aged 24–94 years. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: Primary outcome measures are age at STEMI and age at death. We further distinguish between deaths from coronary artery disease (CAD), deaths from acute coronary syndrome (ACS), and other causes of death. SEE is proxied via mean individual gross income from employment in each municipal district. RESULTS: Results are based on Kaplan-Meier survival probability estimates, Cox proportional hazard regressions and competing risk models, always using age as the time scale. Descriptive findings suggest a socioeconomic gradient in the age at death after STEMI. This finding is, however, not supported by the regression results. Female patients with STEMI have better survival outcomes, but only for deaths related to CAD (HR: 0.668, 95% CIs 0.452 to 0.985) and other causes of deaths (HR: 0.627, 95% CIs 0.444 to 0.884), and not for deaths from the more acute ACS. CONCLUSIONS: Additional research is necessary to further disentangle the interaction between SEE and age at STEMI, as our findings suggest that individuals from poorer districts have STEMI at younger ages, which indicates vulnerability in regard to health conditions in these neighbourhoods.