Incidence of acute myocardial infarction resulting in sudden death outside the hospital

OBJECTIVE: To prospectively determine the percentage of cases of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) resulting in sudden death outside the hospital. METHODS: Two groups of patients were defined by the emergency medical services. Group A comprised all out-of-hospital sudden deaths in 2004 meeting the criteria for possible or probable AMI (n=395 among 1072 sudden death patients, ie, 37%). Group B comprised all in-hospital AMI in the district during the same year according to hospital registry records (n=731). RESULTS: The out-of-hospital sudden death rate due to AMI was determined by the ratio of the number of patients in group A over the total number of patients (A+B), and was found to be 35% (95% CI 32% to 38%). CONCLUSION: The estimated mortality of AMI appears to be 35% in this population. This figure suggests that significant improvement in the treatment of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest is still necessary.