Survival After Recent Myocardial Infarction

R ECENTLY we have analyzed the factors concerned with the immediate prognosis in recent myocardial infarction.1In this report we wish to present the results of our analysis on the long term prognosis. Of the 572 cases previously reported, 507 were selected for this study. These patients were the ones seen in the hospital during the period from 1940 to 1945, inclusive. They represent 0.48 per cent of the total admissions for these years. The selection of these cases was based on the electrocardiographic findings, correlated with the clinical data and, when available, with the necropsy observations. Considerable reliance was placed on unmistakable signs of recent myocardial infarction in the electrocardiogram. The follow-up observations on these patients were made through private physicians, the hospital outpatient department or direct correspondence with the patients known to be alive. Seventeen of the 507 patients could not be followed. A number of the