An editorial discussing a study of 3093 Medicare beneficiaries aged 65 years and older with acute myocardial infarction, examining the use of thrombolytic therapy in the elderly.
Given the low survival experience of older persons following acute myocardial infarction,1claims that thrombolytic therapy is underused in this patient population are particularly disconcerting. Regional, national, and multinational populationbased studies of age-related patterns of thrombolytic use have provided support for these assertions.2,3It is unclear, however, to what extent these patterns of care reflect age bias in the use of an effective therapy vs the appropriately cautious use of a treatment that carries inherent risks and for which only a limited number of elderly patients with acute myocardial infarction are eligible. In this issue of TheJOURNAL, Krumholz et al4provide evidence suggesting that the answer to this question probably lies somewhere between these 2 extremes. See also p 1683. In their study, the authors carefully analyzed data from the medical records of 3093 Medicare beneficiaries, aged 65 years and older, admitted to all acute care
Jerry H. Gurwitz (Wed,) conducted a editorial in Acute myocardial infarction (n=3,093). Coronary Thrombolysis was evaluated. An editorial discussing a study of 3093 Medicare beneficiaries aged 65 years and older with acute myocardial infarction, examining the use of thrombolytic therapy in the elderly.