[Acute myocardial infarction in Germany between 1996 and 1998: therapy and intrahospital course. Results of the Myocardial Infarction Registry (MIR) in Germany].

The "Myocardial Infarction Registry" in Germany (MIR) is a multicenter and prospective registry of consecutively included, unselected patients with acute myocardial infarction. The purpose of MIR is to document the actual praxis of decision making and prescribing of an optimized infarction therapy in AMI patients. Optimized infarction therapy is defined as the combination of reperfusion therapy and ASS, betablocker, and ACE inhibitor.14,598 patients with acute myocardial infarction were included between 12/96 and 5/98 in 217 hospitals throughout Germany. 68% of the patients were male; mean age was 67 years. The prehospital delay time was 195 minutes in median, the first ECG was diagnostic in 66% of the patients. A reperfusion therapy was applied in 46.1% of the patients (thrombolysis 36.2%, primary PTCA 9.9%). During the acute phase, the following adjunctive therapy was used: ASS in 90.3%, betablockers in 53.8%, and ACE inhibitors in 52.5%. Intrahospital mortality was 15.4%. Compared to hospitals without cardiologists, the hospitals with cardiologist had a lower intrahospital mortality (13.8% versus 16.1%; p < 0.001). Reasons are the more frequent use of a reperfusion therapy by cardiologists (54.3% versus 42.3%; p < 0. 001) and the availability of a catheter laboratory with PTCA facilities.A lower intrahospital mortality was associated with each therapy of the optimized infarction therapy: reperfusion therapy (odds ratio 0.7; 95% CI: 0.5-0.8), ASS (odds ratio 0.6; 95% CI: 0. 5-0.8), betablocker (odds ratio 0.6; 95% CI: 0.5-0.7) and ACE inhibitor (odds ratio: 0.5; 95% CI: 0.4-0.7). However, patients with poor initial prognosis - such as cardiogenic shock, hypotension and/or bradycardia - could not benefit from the orally adjunctive therapy. This fact may have led to an overestimation of the influence on intrahospital mortality. In representative communal German hospitals, a reperfusion therapy in combination with an optimized adjunctive therapy in patients with acute myocardial infarction is associated with a reduction in intrahospital mortality. Compared to previous registries, the application of betablockers and ACE inhibitors was clearly increased. Reasons could be the participation in a quality registry, the obligation to document why a therapy has not been given and repeated and intensified education of the treating physicians.Thus, the mainly communal hospitals in Germany are increasingly following recommendations about the early treatment of acute myocardial infarction. Myocardial infarction registries such as MIR reflect daily prescribing habits in hospitals and describe the implementation of the results of randomized trials into daily routine.