[Limiting values--the solution to all problems?].
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Environmental Exposure↗
Biomedical subjects
R Schiele
Publications and source records attributed to R Schiele.
[Mortality of patients who are older than 75 years after ST elevation myocardial infarction in clinical practice].
BACKGROUND: Patients who are older than 75 years are often excluded in clinical trials evaluating therapies for ST elevation myocardial infarction. Therefore there is a lack of prospective data for this steadily increasing number of elderly patients. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Between 07/2000 and 11/2002 a total of 16 823 patients with acute coronary syndromes in 154 hospitals were enrolled in the ACOS registry, with 8309 having a STEMI. Baseline characteristics, therapies during the hospital course and at discharge, hospital-mortality and 1-year mortality were prospectively collected. In this study we analysed the outcome of patients older than 75 years with STEMI of less than 24 duration. RESULTS: A total of 2045 patients > 75 years (median age 80.1 years, 53.9 % women) were included. Of the latter 51 % were treated conservatively, 19 % with fibrinolysis and 30 % with primary PCI. In-hospital mortality in the three groups was 23.4 %, 25.4 % und 10.2 %, while total mortality after one year was 52.4 %, 41.3 % und 19.3 %, respectively. In the multivariate analysis both primary PCI (odds ratio 0.36, 95 % CI 0.25 - 0.52) and fibrinolysis (odds ratio 0.65, 95 % CI 0.44 - 0.97) where associated with a lower mortality after discharge. CONCLUSION: Hospital- as well as 1-year mortality in patients with STEMI who are older than 75 years are high. Primary PCI is associated with a decrease of in-hospital and 1-year mortality, while fibrinolysis improves mortality after discharge. Therefore early reperfusion therapy, preferably with primary PCI should be considered in elderly patients, after taking in count biological age and major comorbidities.
Acute Disease↗
[Prevalence of functional pain of the back, the hip and the knee in adolescents. Results of a cross-sectional study].
OBJECTIVE: To determine the prevalence of functional back, hip and knee pain in adolescents. Risk factors which are associated with these complaints also should be detected. METHODS: A total of 2368 adolescents were included (1137 male, 1231 female, age 14.5 +/- 0.7 years). The persons were interviewed in a self-reported questionnaire about episodes of back, hip and knee pain, furthermore sociodemographic information, activity in sports and consumption of legal drugs (tobacco and alcoholic beverages). All adolescents were examined by school doctors to determine back, hip and knee pathologies. RESULTS: A total of 62.4 % of the adolescents were suffering from musculo-skeletal pain (back 45.4 %, hip 6.4 % and knee 33.6 %). The prevalence of pathological findings was: back 18.0 %, hip 2.7 % and knee 28.5 %. Summarized the prevalence of functional pain was 34.5 % for back pain, 5.7 % for hip pain and 28.5 % for knee pain. There were significantly with functional pain associated factors. Male sex was significantly associated with functional back and hip pain. Knee pain was associated with sports activity. Adolescents who were visiting a high school and adolescents who were smoker had a significant higher prevalence of functional pain. CONCLUSION: The majority of functional back, hip and knee pain in adolescents must be classified as functional complaints. There is a significant association with female sex, visiting a high school and the consumption of legal drugs.
Adolescent↗
[Prehospital delay-not just a question of patient knowledge].
Patients with acute myocardial infarction reaching the hospital within the first hour after symptom onset preserve their chances for an optimal treatment. But only about one fifth of them actually reach the hospital within this "golden hour". Information of the public to reduce time from symptom onset to medical service call have shown success only during the time the continuous publicity was maintained. Soon after the end of such activities the prehospital delay again reached the initial duration. Because of restricted resources, prehospital thrombolysis as another means of reducing time to treatment is as yet only used for a very small proportion of patients. Reduction of door-to-balloon and -treatment time seems to have reached its limit in recent years. In patients with delayed hospital admission, the use of PTCA interventions seems to result in better outcome data compared to thrombolysis.
Angioplasty, Balloon, Coronary↗
[Symptomatic pericardial effusion as initial manifestation of gastric signet ring cell carcinoma].
HISTORY: A 78-year-old woman presented at our hospital with palpitation, tachycardia and progressive dyspnea. The health history included the diagnosis of diabetes mellitus and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. INVESTIGATIONS: The ECG showed atrial fibrillation, later changing with sinus rhythm and low voltage. The echocardiography revealed pericardial effusion. The cytology showed signet ring cells from the stomach. Endoscopic study revealed a 3 cm tumor in the posterior wall of the upper part of the body. The histopathological examination diagnosed cancer of diffuse type according to Lauren, with signet-ring cells. TREATMENT AND CLINICAL COURSE: After treating the atrial fibrillation a pericardial drainage was performed. The pericardiocentesis yielded 500 ml of serous fluid. In an echocardiogram after pericardial drainage, pericardial effusion was no longer present. During the clinical course the patient suffered a stroke and the chemotherapy could not be initiated. The patient died 2 months after diagnosis. CONCLUSION: Cardiac involvement with clinical manifestations and pericardial effusion may be associated with a malignant neoplasm. Echocardiography and pericardiocentesis are helpful for the diagnosis of cardiac metastases.
Aged↗
Prognostic value of non-sustained ventricular tachycardias after acute myocardial infarction in the thrombolytic era: importance of combination with frequent ventricular premature beats.
PURPOSE: of this study was to re-evaluate the association between ventricular arrhythmias and long-term mortality after acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in the thrombolytic era. METHODS: MITRA (maximal individual therapy in patients with AMI) is a multicenter registry of 54 hospitals in Germany investigating patients with AMI. RESULTS: 2420 patients received Holter ECG. Positive Holter ECG was defined: > or =10 ventricular premature beats (VPB)/h, or > or =4 couplets/d, or > or =1 non-sustained ventricular tachycardia (nsusVT)/d, or their combination. Mortality rates (median 17 months) were 6.5% without ventricular arrhythmias, with > or =10 VPB/h 15.2% and with the combination of > or =10 VPB/h plus either > or =4 couplets/d or > or =1 nsusVT/d 23.4%. In multivariate analysis, none of the ventricular arrhythmias alone correlated with mortality. There was a significant association between mortality and the combination of > or =10 VPB/h plus > or =4 couplets/d (OR 2.3) or > or =10 VPB/h plus > or =1 nsusVT/d (OR 2.8). CONCLUSION: Non-sustained VTs are only associated with poor prognosis if combined with frequent VPBs.
Adrenergic beta-Antagonists↗
Angina intensity is not different in diabetic and non-diabetic patients with acute myocardial infarction.
BACKGROUND: Diabetic patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) may have diminished pain or a higher frequency of asymptomatic infarctions. This appears to be a common clinical perception. METHODS: Data from two registries of AMI patients presenting in hospital (MITRA PLUS with 18786 patients; North German Registry, NGR, 1042 patients with detailed symptom interviews) were analyzed concerning symptoms of acute myocardial infarction in patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) and without diabetes (non-DM). RESULTS: DM patients were significantly older and more often female than non-DM. There were no differences in the frequency of pre-infarction angina between DM and non-DM (Mitra Plus). In NGR, severe angina during AMI occurred in 49.8% of DM and 46.3% of non-DM (n. s.). No chest pain was reported in 16.9% of DM and 15.0% of non-DM (n. s.). Extra-thoracic pain, dizziness, nausea, sweating, palpitations, radiation of angina and localization of radiating pain was not different between DM and non-DM patients. Severe dyspnea occurred in 29.5% of DM and 19.5% of non-DM patients (p = 0.003). CONCLUSIONS: Apart from a higher frequency of severe dyspnea in diabetics, there appears to be no difference in the clinical symptoms of AMI patients with and without diabetes mellitus. AMI with little or no angina was also frequently found in non-diabetics. In the hospital, diabetics with suspected AMI do not appear to need a special judgement of symptoms. This could accelerate access of diabetics to standard therapeutic procedures.
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Small differences in non-fatal in-hospital reinfarctions complicating acute myocardial infarction as observed in current randomised controlled trials will not essentially influence long-term mortality. Results from the Maximal Individual Therapy in Acute Myocardial Infarction (MITRA) Registry.
BACKGROUND: Recent randomized controlled trials (RCT) comparing different nonmechanical reperfusion strategies in patients with acute ST elevation myocardial infarction (AMI) (The GUSTO V, the ASSENT 3 and the HERO 2 trials) reported no differences in mortality, but lower nonfatal reinfarction rates in each best treatment arm during the hospital stay. METHODS: We analyzed the prospective observational Maximal Individual The rapy in Acute Myocardial Infarction (MITRA) data base selecting AMI patients similar to the RCT patients, to determine whether the observed differences in reinfarction rates will have an influence on longterm mortality. RESULTS: Out of 6737 patients included in MITRA between 1994 and 2000, 2109 (31%) fulfilled the selection criteria simulating the RCTs and were followed up for a median of 18 (quartiles: 16/22) months. Mortality at 1-year after discharge was 6.8% (95%CI: 2.3-11.3%) in patients with versus 4.4% (95%CI: 3.5-5.3%) in patients without a non-fatal reinfarction (absolute difference 2.4%, p = 0.04 by log rank test). Transferred to the results of the RCTs, this difference would require more than 1 million patients in each treatment arm of the RCTs to show significant differences in long-term mortality. CONCLUSION: Non-fatal in-hospital reinfarctions were associated with a higher mortality during the 18 month follow-up in MITRA. However, because the observed differences in the rates of non-fatal in hospital reinfarctions between the treatment arms in the GUSTO V, the ASSENT 3 and the HERO 2 trials were very small, our data make it very improbable that they will result in lower 1-year mortality rates.
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Comparison of different cardiac markers in monitoring percutaneous coronary interventions with frequent use of stents and gpIIbIIIa-antagonists.
Studies from the early 1990s found elevations of creatine kinase (CK) and its isoform CK-MB in 5-30% of patients after PCI, indicating minor myocardial damage. Less is known about the influence of modern improved PCI-techniques on the frequency of elevated cardiac markers and the correlation between different commonly used markers, especially cardiac troponins. From 1997 to 2001, 1486 patients undergoing PCI during the regular working hours were included in the prospective "Ludwigshafen Infarctlet Registry". Myocardial infarction in the past 48 hours was an exclusion criterion. Clinical and procedural data were documented. Follow-up data were obtained from discharge up to one year. PCI-related elevations of troponin T were found in 18%, of total-CK in 11%, of CK-MB in 33% and of myoglobin in 23% of cases. The correlation between the different markers was poor. Compared with troponin T, other markers showed low sensitivity (total-CK 58%, CK-MB 27%, myoglobin 22%) and, especially total-CK, low specificity. Stenting, side branch occlusion or major dissection, complex lesion morphology, gpIIbIIIa-antagonist application, proximal stenosis and unstable angina were independent predictors of an elevated troponin T in multivariate analysis. Due to this weak correlation between more specific and sensitive troponins and the other markers, troponins are preferred in monitoring after PCI. In addition to lesion characteristics, particularly stenting is associated with an increased rate of elevated troponin.
Aged↗
Intensive treatment of coronary artery disease in diabetic patients in clinical practice: results of the MITRA study.
Patients with diabetes are at high risk for the development of coronary artery disease and have a significantly impaired prognosis after ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) as compared with non-diabetic patients. The beneficial effect of pharmaceutical treatment for secondary prevention after STEMI is proven also for diabetics, but little is known about its use in clinical practice. Between June 1994 and December 2000, consecutive patients with STEMI, admitted to hospital within 24 h of symptoms onset, were enrolled into the multicenter MITRA registry in 61 hospitals in Germany. We examined whether there were differences in the frequencies of pharmaceutical secondary prevention after STEMI and in long-term outcomes between diabetics and nondiabetics in 8206 patients who had been discharged alive and followed for a mean period of 17 months. The prevalence of diabetes in 8206 patients discharged alive after acute STEMI was 18%. Diabetics were older and more often female, and more often already had prior myocardial infarction (MI) and stroke than non-diabetics. As chronic discharge medication, diabetics received aspirin and betablockers less often, but more often ACE inhibitors than non-diabetics. The mortality rate 17 months after STEMI was nearly twice as high in diabetics than in non-diabetics (19.1% vs. 10.4%, p<0.01 at univariate analysis; OR=1.50 and 95% CI 1.27-1.77 at multivariate analysis). The combined endpoint of death, MI and stroke occurred in 25.8% of diabetics, but only in 15.8% of non-diabetics ( p<0.01). Long-term treatment with aspirin, betablockers and ACE inhibitors in diabetics was associated with a significant reduction of mortality. Diabetics received intensive pharmaceutical therapy for secondary prevention significantly less often than non-diabetics, although the beneficial effects of this treatment were similar or even more pronounced as compared with non-diabetics. Diabetes was an independent predictor of increased mortality in follow-up after acute STEMI. Intensifying secondary prevention by a more frequent use of established pharmaceutical regimes might improve the prognosis of diabetics after STEMI and prevent cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events.
Adrenergic beta-Antagonists↗
[Long-term follow-up of patients with acute myocardial infarction treated with primary angioplasty or thrombolysis. Results of the MITRA trial].
Long-term follow-up after treatment with primary angioplasty compared to treatment with thrombolysis in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) remains still to be determined. We therefore analyzed the data of the "Maximal Individual Therapy" in Acute Myocardial Infarction (MITRA-1) Registry. Follow-up data for a median of 17 months after discharge were available in 2090 out of 2195 (95%) AMI patients treated with thrombolysis, as well as 293 out of 312 patients (94%) treated with primary angioplasty. There were only small differences in patient characteristics between the two treatment groups. Compared to patients treated with thrombolysis, those treated with primary angioplasty had a higher prevalence of prior myocardial infarction (16.4% versus 12.2%, p = 0.04), longer prehospital delay: 10 minutes (130 minutes versus 120 minutes, p = 0.002), and a longer door-to-treatment time: 45 minutes (p < 0.001). Primary angioplasty patients were more likely to be treated with beta-blockers (primary angioplasty 79.8% versus thrombolysis 66.2%, p < 0.001) or statins (24.5% versus 16.5%, p < 0.001). There was no difference between the treatment groups for total mortality (p = 0.90) nor for the combined endpoint of death or re-infarction (p = 0.85). However, the combined endpoint of death, re-infarction or percutaneous coronary intervention or coronary bypass surgery was significantly lower in the primary angioplasty group (primary angioplasty 25.6% versus thrombolysis 32.3%, univariate odds ratio 0.72, 95% CI: 0.55-0.95, p = 0.02). This result was confirmed by multivariate analysis after adjusting for confounding parameters (multivariate odds ratio: 0.62, 95% CI: 0.42-0.91). The beneficial effect of primary angioplasty compared to thrombolysis achieved during the hospital stay after an AMI is maintained during a 17 month follow-up. AMI patients treated with thrombolysis were more likely to be treated with either percutaneous coronary intervention or coronary bypass surgery after discharge.
Aged↗
[Use of heparin in acute myocardial infarction in routine clinical practice in Germany. Results of the MITRA and MIR registries].
OBJECTIVE: Among other adjunctive medication, heparin is widely used in the therapy of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) today. Large randomized trials, however, have shown inconclusive data on the benefit of adjunctive heparin therapy for patients with AMI. The aim of this study was to describe the use of heparin and complication rates in routine clinical practice today. METHODS: MITRA and MIR were multicenter registries of AMI patients in Germany. During the years 1994 to 1998, 22,697 patients were registered with MITRA and MIR. Of these patients 49.9% received reperfusion therapy. RESULTS: 21,004 patients (92%) received heparin during acute therapy of AMI. The following factors were associated with withholding heparin: Bleeding at admission (OR 4.7; CI 3.2-6.8), cardiogenic shock (OR 1.8; CI 1.4-2.3) and fibrinolytic therapy with streptokinase (OR 2.1; CI 1.8-2.3). Complication rates of patients with heparin were only slightly higher than among those without heparin: 1.7% strokes and 1.9% bleedings were reported among the patients with fibrinolysis and heparin compared to 1.3% strokes and 1.4% bleedings among patients without heparin (p = ns). Mortality rates were 14.1% for patients with and 27.3% for patients without heparin (p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Of the patients in MITRA and MIR 92% received heparin during AMI. Patients with active bleeding or in critical condition received heparin significantly less often. The selection of critically ill patients may have contributed to the high mortality of patients without heparin for AMI. Bleeding complication rates of patients with adjunctive heparin were only slightly higher than reported in randomized trials.
Adult↗
Primary angioplasty versus intravenous thrombolysis in acute myocardial infarction: can we define subgroups of patients benefiting most from primary angioplasty? Results from the pooled data of the Maximal Individual Therapy in Acute Myocardial Infarction Registry and the Myocardial Infarction Registry.
OBJECTIVES: We sought to determine the effectiveness of primary angioplasty compared with thrombolysis in clinical practice. BACKGROUND: In clinical practice, primary angioplasty for the treatment of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) has not yet been proven more effective than intravenous thrombolysis, nor have subgroups of patients been identified who would perhaps benefit from primary angioplasty. METHODS: The pooled data of two AMI registries--the Maximal Individual TheRapy in Acute myocardial infarction (MITRA) study and the Myocardial Infarction Registry (MIR)--were analyzed. A total of 9,906 lytic-eligible patients with AMI, with a pre-hospital delay of < or =12 h, were treated with either primary angioplasty (n = 1,327) or thrombolysis (n = 8,579). RESULTS: Despite differences in the patients' characteristics and concomitant diseases between the two groups, the prevalence of adverse risk factors was balanced. Univariate analysis of hospital mortality showed a more favorable course for patients treated with primary angioplasty: 6.4% versus 11.3% (odds ratio [OR] 0.54, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.43 to 0.67). This was confirmed by logistic regression analysis (multivariate OR 0.58, 95% CI 0.44 to 0.77). Primary angioplasty was associated with a lower mortality in all subgroups analyzed. We observed a significant correlation between mortality and absolute risk reduction (r = 0.82, p < 0.0001) in the different subgroups: as mortality increased, there was an increase in absolute benefit of primary angioplasty compared with thrombolysis. CONCLUSIONS: These large registry data showed the effect of primary angioplasty to be more favorable than thrombolysis for the treatment of patients with AMI in clinical practice. This effect was not restricted to special subgroups of patients. As mortality increased, the absolute benefit of primary angioplasty also increased.
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Incidence, determinants, and clinical course of reinfarction in-hospital after index acute myocardial infarction (results from the pooled data of the maximal individual therapy in acute myocardial infarction [MITRA], and the myocardial infarction registry [MIR]).
There are few data about the incidence, determinants, and clinical course of in-hospital repeat acute myocardial infarction (RE-AMI) after an index AMI. From June 1994 to June 1998, 22,613 patients with AMI as an index event were registered by the Maximal Individual Therapy in Acute Myocardial Infarction (MITRA) and Myocardial Infarction Registries (MIR). Of these, 1,071 (4.7%) had a RE-AMI. For the index event, 9,143 patients (40.5%) were treated with thrombolysis, 1,707 (7.5%) with primary angioplasty, and 443 (2.0%) with a combination of both. Multivariate analysis showed that previous AMI (odds ratio [OR] 1.59; 95% confidence intervals [CI] 1.35 to 1.86), age >70 years (OR 1.57; 95% CI 1.36 to 1.81), diagnostic first electrocardiogram (OR 1.37; 95% CI 1.19 to 1.59), and female gender (OR 1.14; 95% CI 1.05 to 1.32) were independently associated with a higher incidence of RE-AMI. The incidence of RE-AMI was higher when patients received thrombolysis (OR 1.36; 95% CI 1.15 to 1.61), and it was lower when they underwent primary angioplasty (OR 0.74; 95% CI 0.53 to 1.03) or received beta blockers (OR 0.84; 95% CI 0.72 to 0.97). Patients with RE-AMI had higher hospital mortality compared with those without RE-AMI (OR 4.35; 95% CI 3.83 to 4.95). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed an independent association of RE-AMI with in-hospital death (OR 6.60; 95% CI 5.61 to 7.70), repeat revascularization (OR 2.91; 95% CI 2.42 to 3.50), low workload capacity on the bicycle ergometry test (OR 2.17; 95% CI 1.71 to 2.76), and ejection fraction <40% (OR 1.72; 95% CI 1.38 to 2.14) at discharge. Thus, RE-AMI occurs in 4.7% of patients after an AMI. Previous AMI, age >70 years, diagnostic first electrocardiogram, and female gender are independent determinants for RE-AMI. Thrombolysis is associated with a higher and beta blockers with a lower incidence of RE-AMI. Once a RE-AMI occurs, it is a strong predictor of in-hospital mortality and morbidity.
Adrenergic beta-Antagonists↗
[Quality assurance in acute myocardial infarct].
The Ludwigshafen myocardial infarction project has demonstrated, that an intense public media campaign can reduce prehospital delays in acute myocardial infarction. With an additional intrahospital improvement, this can lead to a better and more frequent use of recanalization (thrombolysis or percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty [PTCA]). Several large multicentric registries (60 minutes myocardial infarction project, MIR, MITRA) with a total of about 40,000 patients at over 300 hospitals in Germany showed, that intrahospital improvement of infarction therapy can also be achieved in other hospitals. Voluntary participation in an infarction registry leads to quality control and improvement. Two factors are especially important: (1) documentation of every infarction patient, and (2) documentation of the reasons why therapy was given or withheld in every single patient. The improvement in early therapy is associated with a 20% reduction of hospital mortality (MITRA-1). The media campaign in Ludwigshafen to reduce pre-hospital patient delay, however, could not yet be carried out in other areas effectively and intensely enough.
Adult↗
Incidence, risk factors, and clinical outcome of stroke after acute myocardial infarction in clinical practice. MIR and MITRA Study Groups. Myocardial Infarction Registry. Maximal Individual Therapy in Acute Myocardial Infarction .
In this analysis of ischemic and hemorrhagic strokes after acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in 21,330 consecutively included patients with AMI, we found an incidence of stroke after AMI of 1.2% and a very poor prognosis. Previous stroke, atrial fibrillation, and older age were the strongest predictors of stroke after AMI; thrombolysis was a borderline risk factor and early therapy with aspirin was associated with a reduction in stroke after AMI.
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Effect of preinfarction angina pectoris on outcome in patients with acute myocardial infarction treated with primary angioplasty (results from the Myocardial Infarction Registry.
Preinfarction angina is associated with better clinical outcome in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) who receive intravenous thrombolysis. This has not been proved in patients with AMI treated with primary angioplasty. We analyzed the data of the prospective multicenter Myocardial Infarction Registry (MIR). Of 14,440 patients with AMI, 774 with a prehospital delay of < or =12 hours were treated with primary angioplasty. Five hundred thirty-two patients (68.7%) had preinfarction angina. Patients with preinfarction angina were slightly older than patients without (63 vs 62 years, p = 0.042), prehospital delay was 1 hour longer (180 vs 120 minutes, p = 0.001), and arterial hypertension was more prevalent (47.6% vs 32.2%, odds ratio [OR] 1.91, 95% confidence intervals [CI] 1.39 to 2.62). There was no significant difference in hospital mortality (5.6% vs 3.3%, OR 1.75, 95% CI 0.79 to 3.87), reinfarction, stroke, or the combined end point of death, reinfarction, or stroke between the 2 groups. Logistic regression analysis showed no association of preinfarction angina with the occurrence of either death (OR 2.21, 95% CI 0.91 to 6.08) or the combined end points (OR 1.10, 95% CI 0.55 to 2.31). There was also no significant difference in mortality (6% vs 5.1%, OR 1.19, 95% CI 0.56 to 2.52), reinfarction, stroke, postinfarction angina, or the combined end points between patients with preinfarction angina within 48 hours compared with patients with preinfarction angina between 49 hours and 4 weeks before the AMI. Thus, the MIR data showed no protective effects of preinfarction angina in patients with AMI treated with primary angioplasty.
Angina Pectoris↗
[Current prescription practice of CSE inhibitors at clinic discharge after acute myocardial infarct].
We investigated the use of statins in clinical practice in patients with acute myocardial infarction in Germany in 17,732 consecutively included patients of the registries MIR-1 and MITRA-1. A clinical follow-up has been performed in the MITRA-1 study after a mean period of 18 months. In total 30% of all patients with acute myocardial infarction received statins at discharge. From 1994 to 1998 the use of statins increased from 6% to 44%; however in 1998 still less than half of the patients with acute myocardial infarction received statins at discharge. In a logistic regression model, concomittant diseases as renal failure (OR 0.7), heart failure (OR 0.7) and diabetes mellitus (OR 0.9) were associated with a lower use of statins. Age > 70 years (OR 0.5) was also associated with a lower use of statins at hospital discharge. Patients with statins at discharge had a lower long-term mortality of 5.8% versus 12.9% in patients without statins. After adjustment to age and comorbidity, use of statins at discharge was associated with a borderline significant reduction of long-term mortality (multivariate OR 0.7, 95% CI 0.4-1.0). In a subgroup analysis of therapeutic benefit, measured by the "number needed to treat" (NNT), the number of patients to treat with statins to save one life, patients with cardiovascular risk factors, as heart failure (NNT 7.5), diabetes mellitus (NNT 7.8) and age > 70 years (NNT 13.8) had a larger therapeutic benefit as patients without these risk factors (NNT 345). However, these high-risk patients received less often statins than patients without risk factors (use of statins 11.8% versus 19.8%).
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