Angina frequency after myocardial infarction and quality of life in older versus younger adults: the Prospective Registry Evaluating Myocardial Infarction: Event and Recovery study.

BACKGROUND

Residual angina is known to be strongly associated with health-related quality of life (HRQL) in patients with chronic coronary artery disease. As the age of myocardial infarction (MI) survivors increases, better insights into the relationship between angina frequency and HRQL in older as compared to younger patients are needed to efficiently target medical resources.

METHODS

We evaluated angina frequency and HRQL at 1 and 6 months after MI in 1,795 post-MI survivors using the Seattle Angina Questionnaire (SAQ). We compared changes in HRQL between older (age ≥70 years, n = 464) and younger (age <70 years, n = 1,331) patients as a function of change in SAQ angina frequency scores using hierarchical linear modeling within site.

RESULTS

After adjusting for baseline HRQL and 26 other covariates, older patients with similar or improved angina control at 6 months had significantly greater improvements in HRQL than younger patients (difference in SAQ quality-of-life scale 8.77 points [CI 4.00-13.54, P = .0003] and 2.56 points [CI 0.66-4.47, P = .0084], respectively). However, older patients with increased angina experienced similar declines in HRQL as compared to younger patients.

CONCLUSION

In stable patients with coronary artery disease after a recent MI, changes in angina control were correlated with HRQL in both older and younger patients. However, improved angina control was associated with greater HRQL improvements in older than in younger adults, underscoring the importance of aggressive angina control in older patients.