Background The purpose of the current study was to determine how the location of the infarct-related lesion (IRL) and the degree of stenosis during the acute and chronic phases of infarction might affect left ventricular (LV) function in patients with acu

Background Limited recent data are available to describe the magnitude of, and temporal trends in, the incidence and case-fatality rates associated with cardiogenic shock complicating acute myocardial infarction. The purpose of this study was to examine recent (1994-1997) trends in the incidence of, and hospital death rates from, cardiogenic shock complicating acute myocardial infarction from a large, multihospital national perspective. Methods An observational study was performed of 426,253 patients hospitalized with acute myocardial infarction in 1662 hospitals throughout the United States between 1994 and 1997. Results The incidence rates of cardiogenic shock averaged 6.2%. There was evidence for a slight decline in these rates between 1994 (6.6%) and 1997 (6.0%). Results of a multivariable regression analysis controlling for factors that might affect the risk of development of cardiogenic shock indicated that patients hospitalized in more recent years were at significantly lower risk for shock. Patients with shock had a markedly increased risk for dying during hospitalization compared with patients not having shock (74% vs 10%). Significant, albeit small, absolute differences were observed in the risk of dying after cardiogenic shock over time (76% dying in 1997, 72% dying in 1994). These improving trends were magnified, however, after potentially confounding prognostic factors were controlled: patients having shock in 1997 were at approximately one fifth lower risk of dying (odds ratio 0.79, 95% confidence interval 0.71-0.87) than those hospitalized in 1994. Conclusions Our findings indicate a slight decline in the incidence rates of cardiogenic shock and improving trends in the hospital survival of patients with shock. Despite these trends, it remains of considerable importance to prevent this clinical syndrome, given its high lethality. (Am Heart J 2001;141:65-72.)