Clinical, Inflammatory, and Angiographic Characteristics of Young, Middle-Aged, and Older Patients With Myocardial Infarction: A Single-Center Retrospective Study.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to evaluate age-related differences in the clinical, inflammatory, and angiographic characteristics of patients with myocardial infarction (MI). METHOD: This retrospective, single-center observational study analyzed 905 consecutive patients with acute MI who underwent coronary angiography between February 2024 and April 2026. Patients were divided into three age groups: <45 years (n=96), 45-54 years (n=226), and ≥55 years (n=583). Demographic characteristics, cardiovascular risk factors, inflammatory indices, laboratory findings, and angiographic features were retrospectively analyzed. RESULTS: The mean age was 61.0+-13 years, and 71.2% of the patients were male. ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction was present in 59.4% of young patients. Young patients had a higher prevalence of ever smoking, higher admission low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels, a higher prevalence of high TIMI thrombus burden, and more frequent bifurcation lesions. In contrast, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, chronic kidney disease, and previous coronary artery disease were less common among young patients. Exploratory multinomial logistic regression analyses identified fewer statistically significant adjusted associations when comparing patients aged 45-54 years with those aged <45 years than when comparing patients aged ≥55 years with those aged <45 years. CONCLUSION: Age-related differences were observed in the clinical, inflammatory, and angiographic characteristics of patients with MI, with fewer between-group differences between young and middle-aged patients than between young and older patients. These findings represent descriptive associations derived from a retrospective, single-center observational study and should not be interpreted as causal.