Influence of the Danish Co-morbidity Index Score on the Treatment and Outcomes of 2.5 Million Patients Admitted With Acute Myocardial Infarction in the United States

This study aimed to determine the association between the Danish Co-morbidity Index for Acute Myocardial Infarction (DANCAMI) and restricted DANCAMI (rDANCAMI) scores and clinical outcomes in patients hospitalized with AMI. Using the National Inpatient Sample, all AMI hospitalizations were stratified into four groups based on their DANCAMI and rDANCAMI score (0; 1 to 3; 4 to 5; ≥6). The primary outcome was all-cause mortality, whereas secondary outcomes were major adverse cardiovascular/cerebrovascular events, major bleeding, ischemic stroke, and receipt of coronary angiography or percutaneous coronary intervention. Multivariate logistic regression was used to determine adjusted odds ratios (aOR) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs). Patients with DANCAMI risk score ≥6 were more likely to suffer mortality (aOR 2.30, 95% CI 2.24 to 2.37) and bleeding (aOR 5.85, 95% CI 5.52 to 6.21) and were less likely to receive coronary angiography (aOR 0.34, 95% CI 0.33 to 0.34) and percutaneous coronary intervention (aOR 0.29, 95% CI 0.28 to 0.29) compared with patients with DANCAMI score of 0. Similar results were observed for the rDANCAMI score. In conclusion, increased DANCAMI and rDANCAMI scores were associated with worse in-hospital outcomes in patients with AMI and lower odds of invasive management. The use of co-morbidity scores identifies patients at high risk of adverse outcomes and highlights disparities in care.