Elderly Asian Patients Have Lower Revascularisation Rates and Poorer Outcomes for ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction Compared to Younger Patients

Introduction: There is limited information on elderly patients presenting with ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). This study aimed to study the outcomes of elderly Asian patients with STEMI compared to younger patients. Materials and Methods: The study utilised data from 2007 to 2012 from the Singapore Myocardial Infarction Registry, a mandatory national population-based registry. Elderly patients were defined as ≥80 years of age, middle-aged to old (MAO) patients were defined as 45–80 years of age and young patients were defined as ≤45 years of age. The primary outcome of the study was 1-year mortality and secondary outcomes included in-hospital complications and mortality. Results: There were 12,409 STEMI patients with 1207 (9.7%) elderly patients, 10,093 (81.3%) MAO patients and 1109 (8.9%) young patients. Elderly patients had more cardiovascular risk factors and lower rates of total percutaneous coronary intervention (26.0% vs 72.4% vs 85.5%, respectively; P <0.0001) compared to MAO and young patients. They had higher 1-year mortality (60.6% vs 18.3% vs 4.1%, respectively; P <0.0001) when compared to MAO and young patients. Conclusion: Elderly patients with STEMI have poorer outcomes than MAO and young patients. This is potentially attributable to a myriad of factors including age, higher burden of comorbidities and a lesser likelihood of receiving revascularisation and guideline-recommended medical therapy.