Impact of time of onset of symptom of ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction on 1-year rehospitalization for heart failure and mortality.

Circadian patterns in ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) patients have been previously reported, but little is known about the impact of time dependence of symptom onset on long-term prognosis. Our study population consisted of 11,731 STEMI patients treated by primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PPCI), enrolled in the Singapore Myocardial Infarction Registry (SMIR). Analysis of STEMI incidence trends over the 24-hour period showed the highest rate of symptom onset in the morning, with the peak incidence at 09:00 am. Patients with symptom onset in between 00:00 am-5:59 am showed the highest prevalence of diabetes (P = .010) and anterior STEMI (P < .001) and had the longest ischemic time (P < .001). After adjusting for confounders, we found an association between time of symptom onset of STEMI and rehospitalization for heart failure (HF) at 1 year, with symptom onset between 06:00 pm-11:59 pm and 00:00 am-05:59 am having an estimated 30% to 50% higher risk of rehospitalization for HF at 1 year. Moreover, symptom onset remained a predictor of worse prognosis only in the subgroup of patients with symptoms lasting longer than 120 minutes. The results of this study demonstrate for the first time that rehospitalization for HF in STEMI patients treated with PPCI has a dependence on the time of onset of symptoms, with prolonged ischemia time playing a pivotal role. This may be an additional risk factor to identify those who warrant closer monitoring and more rigorous optimization of their treatment at follow-up, to improve their outcomes.