@article{37b997f0123911df803f000ea68e967b,
title = "Improving long-term survival of patients with acute myocardial infarction from 1977-1988 in a region of Denmark",
abstract = "The aim of this investigation was to study secular trends in long-term survival following myocardial infarction (MI). Five thousand one hundred and fifty-seven consecutive cases of MI in 3942 patients were recorded in a well-defined region in the study period 1977-1988. The study period ended before thrombolytic therapy was introduced in the hospital. One and 5-year survival (+/- 95% confidence limits) was 61 +/- 2% and 42 +/- 2% in 1977-1980. These figures changed to 61 +/- 2% and 44 +/- 2% in 1981-1984, and to 64 +/- 2 and 46 +/- 2% in 1985-1988. The improvement with time was statistically significant (P < 0.001). In a Cox proportional hazard model, time of infarction was an independent predictor of survival. Patients were subdivided into a high risk group suffering from either congestive heart failure or cardiac arrest during hospitalization, and a low risk group without these complications. Year of infarction was without importance in the high risk group but highly significant in the low risk group. Long-term survival following MI gradually improved prior to the introduction of thrombolytic therapy. The improvement was confined to low risk patients without cardiac arrest or congestive heart failure.",
author = "C Torp-Pedersen and P Hildebrandt and L K{\o}ber and Nielsen, {F E} and G Jensen and T Melchior and T Joen and V Ringsdal and U Nielsen and M Ege",
note = "Keywords: Acute Disease; Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Denmark; Humans; Middle Aged; Myocardial Infarction; Proportional Hazards Models; Retrospective Studies; Risk Factors; Survival Rate; Thrombolytic Therapy",
year = "1995",
language = "English",
volume = "16",
pages = "14--20",
journal = "European Heart Journal",
issn = "0195-668X",
publisher = "Oxford University Press",
number = "1",
}