Hartmut Henning

Influence of Heart Rate on Mortality After Acute Myocardial Infarction

Elevated heart rate (HR) during hospitalization and after discharge has been predictive of death in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI), but whether this association is primarily due to associated cardiac failure is unknown. The major purpose of this study was to characterize in 1,807 patients with AMI admitted into a multicenter study the relation of HR to in-hospital, after discharge and total mortality from day 2 to 1 year in patients with and without heart failure. HR was examined on admission at maximum level in the coronary care unit, and at hospital discharge. Both in-hospital and postdischarge mortality increased with increasing admission HR, and total mortality (day 2 to 1 year) was 15% for patients with an admission HR between 50 and 60 beats/min, 41% for HR greater than 90 beats/min and 48% for HR greater than or equal to 110 beats/min. Mortality from hospital discharge to 1 year was similarly related to maximal HR in the coronary care unit and to HR at discharge. In patients with severe heart failure (grade 3 or 4 pulmonary congestion on chest x-ray, or shock), cumulative mortality was high regardless of the level of admission HR (range 61 to 68%). However, in patients with pulmonary venous congestion of grade 2, cumulative mortality for patients with admission HR greater than or equal to 90 beats/min was over twice as high as that in patients with admission HR less than 90 beats/min (39 vs 18%, respectively); the same trend was evident in patients with absent to mild heart failure (mortality 18 vs 10%, respectively).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Acute myocardial infarction in women: influence of gender on mortality and prognostic variables

The contention that mortality after acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is increased in women compared with men has been controversial, with findings in a recent multicenter study suggesting that gender plays an important prognostic role. To assess whether or not early and late mortality after AMI is greater in women, 2,089 patients (1,551 men, 538 women) were followed for 1 year after AMI. In the hospital, women had an increased mortality compared to men (17.5 vs 12.3%, p less than 0.003) and were on average 7 years older, whereas after hospital discharge and up to 1 year no difference in mortality was observed. Multivariate analyses of historical, clinical and laboratory features demonstrated that gender had no independent predictive value when variables that included age, congestive heart failure in the hospital, history of congestive failure, prior AMI and diabetes mellitus were considered. Moreover, when age stratification was performed, the significant difference of in-hospital mortality between genders was no longer present. Causes of death in the hospital and during 1 year after hospital discharge were similar between men and women, whether or not age stratification was performed. Several baseline clinical characteristics were different between men and women; a history of systemic hypertension and congestive heart failure occurred more frequently in women and previous AMI and smoking occurred more commonly in men. Also, the value of several other important prognostic indicators after AMI, such as the ejection fraction, was found to differ between men and women.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Differing circadian patterns of symptom onset in subgroups of patients with acute myocardial infarction.

Circadian variation of the onset of acute myocardial infarction has been noted in many studies and may carry important pathophysiologic implications. However, only a few previous studies have attempted subgroup analyses. In 4,796 patients with documented acute myocardial infarction, the time of symptom onset was recorded. As in other studies, the peak of onset occurred in the morning from 6:01 AM to 12:00 noon, and 28% of the population (1.16 times the average percentage for the other time periods) experienced symptom onset in that period (p less than 0.001). There was a second, lower peak (25%) in the evening between 6:01 PM and 12:00 midnight, which was also observed in some previous studies. We sought to determine whether or not the presence of subgroups with specific clinical characteristics would exhibit different patterns and thereby contribute to these peaks in the overall population. In patients with a history of congestive heart failure (n = 606) or with non-Q wave infarction (n = 832), a pronounced peak (29%) occurred only in the evening. Two nearly equal peaks were observed in patients older than 70 years of age (n = 1,422), smokers (n = 2,057), diabetics (n = 767), women (n = 1,213), and patients taking beta-blocking drugs (n = 847). Finally, in patients with a previous myocardial infarction (n = 1,104), no peaks were observed.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Right ventricular ejection fraction in patients with acute anterior and inferior myocardial infarction assessed by radionuclide angiography.

SUMMARYWe measured right and left ventricular ejection fraction (EF) from high frequency time-activity curves obtained during the initial passage of an intravenous bolus of 99mTc (Sn) pyrophosphate. In 22 normal controls right ventricular EF averaged 0.52 ± 0.04 (SD). In 24 acute anterior or lateral infarction patients right ventricular EF was normal (0.56 ± 0.10), while left ventricular EF was reduced (0.45 ± 0.10, P < 0.001 vs controls). In 19 acute inferior infarction patients left ventricular EF also was depressed (0.51 ± 0.09, P < 0.001 vs controls). Among 7 of 19 inferior infarc- tion patients with right ventricular infarction by scintigraphy, right ventricular EF was reduced (0.39 ± 0.05; P < 0.001 vs normals; P < 0.01 vs inferior infarction patients without right ventricular involvement). In the latter group right ventricular EF averaged 0.51 ± 0.10 (NS vs normals). We conclude 1) a single injection of 19mTc (Sn) pyrophosphate can identify right and left ventricular dysfunction and infarct location in acute myocardial infarction, 2) right ventricular EF is well-preserved except when inferior infarction involves the right ventricle.

Serial measurements of left ventricular ejection fraction by radionuclide angiography early and late after myocardial infarction

The left ventricular ejection fraction was determined serially with radioisotope angiography in 63 patients with acute myocardial infarction. After the peripheral injection of a bolus of technetium-99m, precordial radioactivity was recorded with a gamma scintillation camera and the ejection fraction calculated from the high frequency left ventricular time-activity curve. Since this technique requires no assumptions with respect to left ventricular geometry, it is particularly useful in patients with segmental left ventricular dysfunction. Serial measurements during the first 5 days after hospital admission were made in 50 patients, 30 of whom were studied during the subsequent 2 to 39 months (mean 19.9 months). Late follow-up serial studies were also performed in an additional 13 patients who had only one measurement of the left ventricular ejection fraction during the early postinfarction period. Early after infarction, the left ventricular ejection fraction was normal (more than 0.52) in only 15 of the 63 patients, and averaged 0.52 +/- 0.05 (standard deviation) in the 27 patients with an uncomplicated infarct. The ejection fraction was reduced in 24 patients with mild to moderate left ventricular failure (0.40 +/- 0.05, P less than 0.0001) and in the 12 patients with overt pulmonary edema (0.33 +/- 0.07, P less than 0.0001). In 35 patients the ejection fraction correlated with the mean pulmonary arterial wedge pressure (r = 0.72). In 15 patients with normal left ventricular wall motion by heart motion videotracking, the ejection fraction was significantly higher (0.53 +/- 0.08) than in the 26 patients with regional left ventricular dysfunction (0.41 +/- 0.10, P less than 0.0001). During the early postinfarction period, the left ventricular ejection fraction improved in 55 percent of patients and remained unchanged or decreased in 45 percent. A further increase in the ejection fraction was noted in 61 percent of patients during the late follow-up period. Patients with an initially low or decreasing ejection fraction had a significantly greater incidence of early mortality and left ventricular dysfunction (P less than 0.02) than those whose ejection fraction was normal or improved to normal early after infarction. These data indicate that the ejection fraction is a sensitive indicator of left ventricular function after acute myocardial infarction and that serial measurements are helpful in predicting early mortality and morbidity.

Short- and long-term clinical outcome after Q wave and non-Q wave myocardial infarction in a large patient population.

Prognosis for patients with non-Q wave myocardial infarction is controversial although a number of studies have shown a less favorable outlook after hospital discharge for patients with non-Q wave than for those with Q wave infarction. Therefore, the in-hospital and 1-year prognosis was investigated in a sufficiently large patient population (n = 2,024) to allow stratification by subgroups, in particular by age and previous myocardial infarction. Patients with non-Q wave infarction (n = 444; 22% of the total study population) were somewhat older (65 vs. 63 years, p less than 0.001) and had an increased incidence of previous myocardial infarction (46% vs. 24%, p less than 0.001) and congestive heart failure (21% vs. 8%, p less than 0.001) than patients with Q wave infarction. In-hospital mortality of patients with non-Q wave infarction was lower (8.1% vs. 11.5%; p less than 0.06), whereas their 1-year mortality after hospital discharge was significantly higher (13.7% vs. 9.2%, p less than 0.05) than for patients with Q wave infarction. However, total mortalities at 1 year were nearly equal. When patients were subgrouped by presence or absence of a previous myocardial infarction, patients in both subgroups exhibited mortality patterns typical of the entire population with Q wave or non-Q wave infarction. However, when stratified by age and previous infarction, in-hospital mortality for patients with non-Q wave infarction was significantly lower only in patients older than 70 years of age. Similarly, the higher mortality after hospital discharge in patients with non-Q wave infarction occurred only in patients older than 70 years of age without previous myocardial infarction.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Prognosis after acute myocardial infarction: a multivariate analysis of mortality and survival.

We examined early mortality (within 30 days) and survival (beyond 30 days) after acute myocardial infarction in 221 patients by screening 158 variables measured soon after the patients admission to the hospital. Nineteen of these measurements had predictive value, but each variable alone was relatively insensitive. Therefore, we subjected groups of variables to stepwise discriminant function analysis and classification rates were estimated by calculating 95% confidence intervals using a jackknife procedure. When factors from the history, physical examination, and noninvasive assessment were combined, we identified 70% of deaths (confidence interval 48-80%) and 94% (90-98%) of survivors; when 11 selected variables including hemodynamic data were combined, we identified 86% (66-98%) of deaths and 96% (92-100%) of survivors (93% overall accuracy). We further tested the validity of this method in a subsequent series of 150 patients. Using the original discriminant functions, classification rates based on noninvasive and hemodynamic data fell within predicted limits, although the number of patients studied hemodynamically was unrepresentative and too small to allow overall predictive accuracy. Therefore, we randomly divided the entire population (371 patients) into a base sample from which we constructed new discriminant functions, with which we classified the remaining patients. The classification rates for the validation sample fell within the predicted confidence intervals. Thus, our method provides a reliable approach for predicting the risk of early death or the likelihood of survival in patients soon after acute myocardial infarction.

Influence on prognosis and morbidity of left ventricular ejection fraction with and without signs of left ventricular failure after acute myocardial infarction

The left ventricular (LV) ejection fraction (EF) is known to be an independent predictor of late prognosis after acute myocardial infarction. Despite a previous report that early heart failure (evidenced only by advanced pulmonary rales in the hospital) can predict prognosis in the absence of severe depression of the LVEF at hospital discharge, the potentially strong influence of various measures of in-hospital heart failure on the predictive ability of LVEF has not been generally appreciated. Accordingly, in 972 patients with acute myocardial infarction the effect on late mortality of the presence or absence in-hospital of both clinical and radiographic signs of LV failure in subgroups of patients with normal, moderately or severely depressed LVEF was examined and measured close to hospital discharge. Patients were divided into 3 groups according to LVEF: group I LVEF less than or equal to 40, n = 265; group II LVEF 0.41 to 0.50, n = 241 and group III LVEF greater than or equal to 0.51, n = 466. When clinical signs of LV failure were present at any time during the coronary care unit period, the 1-year mortality rate after hospital discharge in groups I, II and III was 26, 19 and 8%, compared with 12% (p less than 0.01), 6% (p less than 0.01) and 3% (p less than 0.02), respectively, when signs of LV failure were absent.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Outlook after acute myocardial infarction in the very elderly compared with that in patients aged 65 to 75 years

Little is known concerning late outcome and prognostic factors after acute myocardial infarction in the very elderly (greater than 75 years of age). Accordingly, this study compared the clinical course and mortality rate for up to 1 year in a large multicenter data base that included 702 patients greater than 75 years of age (mean +/- SD 81 +/- 4 years), with a less elderly subset of 1,321 patients between 65 and 75 years of age (mean 70 +/- 3 years). The postdischarge 1 year cardiac mortality rate was 17.6% for those greater than 75 years of age compared with 12.0% for patients between 65 and 75 years of age (p less than 0.01). There were differences in the prevalence of several factors, including female gender, history of angina pectoris, history of congestive heart failure, smoking habits and incidence of congestive heart failure during hospitalization. Multivariate analyses of predictors of cardiac death in hospital survivors selected different factors as important in the two age subgroups; age was selected in the 65 to 75 year age group but was not an independent predictor in the very elderly. The survival curves beginning at day 10 for patients 65 to 75 and in those greater than 75 years old were similar for up to 90 days but diverged later. In the very elderly, 63% of late cardiac deaths were sudden or due to new myocardial infarction, similar to the causes of 67% of deaths in the younger age group.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Prognosis after extension of myocardial infarct: the role of Q wave or non-Q wave infarction.

We examined whether or not subsets of patients with extension of myocardial infarct were at high risk for early and late mortality. Some data suggest increased risk in patients with non-Q wave infarcts and we hypothesized that infarct extension in this group might be associated with a poorer prognosis than that for patients with extension of Q wave infarcts. A total of 1253 patients with acute myocardial infarction who were included in our data base were followed prospectively. The patients were classified according to electrocardiographic results into the following groups: those with non-Q wave (n = 277) infarcts and those with Q-anterior (n = 462) and Q-inferior (n = 497) infarcts. Extension was diagnosed by two of the following criteria: (1) recurrent chest pain 24 hr or more after admission to the hospital, (2) new persistent electrocardiographic changes, and (3) elevation or reappearance of creatine kinase. By these criteria 85 (6%) patients had extension (8% of non-Q wave infarcts, 6% of Q-anterior infarcts, and 6% of Q-inferior infarcts). Hospital mortality in patients with extension was 15% in those with Q wave infarcts vs 43% in those with non-Q wave infarcts (p less than .01). Nine hundred and fifty-two patients were followed for 1 year. In 24% of those who did not survive 1 year there was extension of infarct; only 6% of survivors had extension (p less than .01).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)