Pattern of Cardiovascular Risk Factors and Outcomes of Patients Older Than 80 Years and Presenting with Acute Coronary Syndromes

Objective: Elderly patients presenting with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) are at higher risk for morbidity, complications and early mortality than younger patients. Elderly are frequently underrepresented in clinical trials. Methods: A descriptive multi-center study including 760 patients admitted with ACS aiming to determine the most frequently encountered cardiovascular risk factors, as well as the in-hospital complications. Results: Of the 760 patients, 42.1% were males with a mean age of 85 years. Non-ST-elevation ACS was encountered in 496 patients (65.3%; NSTEMI 50% and unstable angina 15.3%) while STEMI was encountered in 264 patients (34.7%). Regarding risk factors, 61.1% of patients were hypertensive, 60% were diabetics, 44.7% were smokers, 28.9% had dyslipidemia, 16.8% had a family history of coronary artery disease, and 20% had chronic renal impairment at presentation. 252 patients (33.2%) underwent primary PCI, 440 patients (57.9%) underwent elective PCI, 36 patients (4.7%) underwent coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery while 32 patients (4.2%) were maintained on conservative medical therapy and no patients received fibrinolytic therapy. In-hospital mortality was only 3.7% (28 patients), Cerebrovascular stroke occurred in 16 patients (2.1%) and recurrent infarction occurred only in 8 patients (1.1%). Conclusion: In patients over 80 years presenting with ACS, female sex, hypertension and diabetes were the most frequently encountered cardiovascular risk factors, with more frequent presentation of NSTEMI than STEMI and in-hospital mortality of 3.7%.