ECG scores for a triage of patients with acute myocardial infarction transported by the emergency medical system.

Prehospital triage of cardiac patients for bypass from community hospitals to cardiac centers may improve survival. This article determines if electrocardiogram (ECG)-based scoring triage methods (Aldrich MI scoring, QRS distortion, and the TIMI classification) and location of infarct (via 12 lead ECG) are associated with mortality before and after adjusting for age, sex, and race. It is a retrospective study of 291 AMI adult patients transported by ambulance to community hospitals or cardiac centers. Patients with an ED chief complaint of chest pain or dyspnea, presence of MI as defined by ECG findings of 0.1 mV of ST segment elevation in two leads or positive CPK-MB were eligible for the study. The primary outcome variable was 2-year mortality as determined with a metropolitan Detroit tri-county death index. Logistic regression was used to calculate the unadjusted and adjusted odds ratios (with 95% CIs) of the predictor variables with mortality. Of the initial population selected for the study (n = 291), 229 patients were eligible for the analysis. The mean age was 66 years (SD of 14.4) with 63.8% being male and 54% being white. The overall mortality point estimate was 21.3% (95% CI of 15.2 to 27.3%). Aldrich scores and QRS distortion (yes/no) were not associated with mortality. Patients classified as a "high risk" for AMI per TIMI status were almost 3 times more likely to die than those at "low risk" and reached borderline statistical significance (P = .06) after adjusting for the covariates. Having an anterior infarct, as opposed to an inferior infarct, was significantly associated with death before and after adjusting for the covariates (Unadjusted OR = 2.6, Adjusted OR = 2.8). Properly training emergency medical system professionals in this area may prove useful for identifying higher risk AMI patients in the prehospital setting.