Acute myocardial infarction in women. The influence of age on complications and mortality.

The prognostic implications of a past history of ischaemic heart disease, site of infarction, ectopic ventricular dysrhythmias (ventricular premature beats (VPB) more than one in 10 sinus beats, and/or ventricular tachycardia (VT), ventricular fibrillation (VF), atrioventricular blocks (AVB), bundle branch blocks (BBB)) and the occurrence of electrical and/or mechanical complications during stay in the Coronary Care Unit (CCU) were analysed in 154 women with definte (WHO Class 1) acute myocardial infarction, admitted sequentially to the CCU over a four-year period. The prognosis in these women was then compared with the prognosis in a group which represented the general male population in the CCU and an age-matched group of men. The results showed that the long-term prognosis in women with acute myocardial infarction is remarkably similar to age-matched groups of men.