Incidence and mortality of acute myocardial infarction. A population-based study including patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.

The in-hospital mortality rate of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is improving. In Japan, little information exists concerning the incidence and mortality of AMI. Therefore, our population-based analysis examined the incidence and mortality rate in AMI cases in individuals that lived in the Matsumoto region in 2002. We studied 169 AMI patients who were admitted within 14 days after a non-out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (non-OHCA group) and 63 patients with an AMI-related out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA group). The in-hospital mortality rate of the non-OHCA group was 9.5% (reperfusion therapy [+] 3.4%, [-] 22.7%, P < 0.0001). The rate of return of spontaneous circulation and the survival rate were 21% and 1.6%, respectively, in the OHCA group. The incidence of AMI in the non-OHCA and OHCA groups combined was 55.2 to 63.1 events/100,000 people annually and the mean age of AMI patients was 70 ± 13 years. The population-based mortality rate of AMI was 34% to 42%. The mortality rate of AMI remains high, and most deaths occur outside of the hospital. Prehospital care may lower the mortality rate of AMI.