Prognostic value of location and type of myocardial infarction in the setting of advanced left ventricular dysfunction.

Location (anterior) and type (Q wave) of myocardial infarction (MI) might be considered of prognostic significance when predicting mortality. However, there are limited data regarding the prognostic significance of type and location of MI in patients with severely depressed left ventricular function. In 1,221 patients in the MADIT II, Q-wave MI was observed in 763 patients (62%), 115 (10%) had non-Q-wave MI, and 343 (28%) had conduction abnormalities. In patients with Q-wave MI, anterior MI was present in 430 (57%), inferior in 155 (20%), and combined in 178 (23%) patients. Study end points included all-cause mortality, hospitalization or death due to worsening congestive heart failure, and episodes of ventricular tachycardia or ventricular fibrillation requiring implantable cardioverter-defibrillator therapy. In a multivariate Cox proportional hazard model predicting mortality, the following clinical variables entered the predictive model at a p value <0.10: treatment (implantable cardioverter-defibrillator vs conventional therapy), age dichotomized at 65 years, angina pectoris, ejection fraction dichotomized at 25%, serum urea nitrogen dichotomized at 25 mg/dl, and beta-blocker use. After adjustment for these covariates, risk of mortality was not significantly different in non-Q-wave MI versus Q-wave MI. However, when analyzing location of MI, inferior wall MI was associated with a significantly (hazard ratio 1.58, p = 0.048) higher risk of mortality than anterior wall MI. In addition, patients with conduction abnormalities had a higher risk of mortality (hazard ratio 1.36, p = 0.088) than patients with anterior wall MI. In conclusion, in the setting of severely depressed ejection fraction (< or =30%), inferior wall MI was associated with a significantly higher risk of mortality than anterior wall MI.