Lower hospital mortality for acute MI during heart meeting

(HealthDay)—Thirty-day mortality is lower for hospitalization with acute myocardial infarction during Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics meeting dates, according to a study published online March 9 in the Journal of the American Heart Association.

Anupam B. Jena, M.D., Ph.D., from Harvard Medical School in Boston, and colleagues analyzed 30-day mortality among Medicare beneficiaries hospitalized with acute myocardial infarction from Jan. 1, 2007, to Nov. 31, 2012, in major teaching hospitals. Mortality was compared during dates of a major annual interventional cardiology meeting (Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics) versus identical non-meeting days in the five weeks before and after.

The researchers found that patients admitted during meeting versus non-meeting dates had lower unadjusted and adjusted 30-day mortality rates (unadjusted: 15.3 versus 16.7 percent; P = 0.04; adjusted: 15.4 versus 16.7 percent; P = 0.05). Between the dates, the rates of interventional cardiologist involvement were similar (59.5 versus 59.8 percent of hospitalizations; P = 0.88), as were rates of percutaneous coronary intervention (30.2 versus 29.1 percent; P = 0.20). Patients with non-ST-segment-elevation myocardial infarction not receiving percutaneous coronary intervention had the largest mortality reductions (16.9 versus 19.5 percent adjusted 30-day mortality; P = 0.008).

"Hospitalization with acute myocardial infarction during Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics meeting dates was associated with lower 30-day mortality, predominantly among patients with non-ST-segment-elevation myocardial infarction who were medically managed," the authors write.

One author disclosed financial ties to the pharmaceutical industry; two authors disclosed ties to Precision Health Economics.