Poor long-term outcome in acute coronary syndrome in a real-life setting: Ten-year outcome of the TACOS study

• Published in: Cardiology Journal
• Main Authors: Kaari K. Konttila, Kimmo Koivula, Markku J. Eskola, Mika Martiskainen, Heini Huhtala, Vesa K. Virtanen, Jussi Mikkelsson, Kati Järvelä, Kari O. Niemelä, Pekka J. Karhunen, Kjell C. Nikus
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Via Medica 2021-04-01
• Subjects: acute coronary syndrome; myocardial infarction; prognosis; unstable angina
• Online Access: https://journals.viamedica.pl/cardiology_journal/article/view/62947
• ISSN: 1897-5593; 1898-018X

BACKGROUND: Long-term outcome of the three categories of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) in real-life patient cohorts is not well known. The objective of this study was to survey the 10-year outcome of an ACS patient cohort admitted to a university hospital and to explore factors affecting the outcome. METHODS: A total of 1188 consecutive patients (median age 73 years) with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), non-ST-elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) or unstable angina pectoris (UA) in 2002–2003 were included and followed up for ≥ 10 years. RESULTS: Mortality for STEMI, NSTEMI and UA patients during the follow-up period was 52.5%, 69.9% and 41.0% (p < 0.001), respectively. In multivariable Cox regression analysis, only age and creatinine level at admission were independently associated with patient outcome in all the three ACS categories when analyzed separately. CONCLUSIONS: All the three ACS categories proved to have high mortality rates during long-term followup in a real-life patient cohort. NSTEMI patients had worse outcome than STEMI and UA patients during the whole follow-up period. Our study results indicate clear differences in the prognostic significance of various demographic and therapeutic parameters within the three ACS categories.