Recent Trends in Hospitalization for Acute Myocardial Infarction

Over the past decade, rates of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) hospitalizations for older Medicare patients have decreased. This article examines the trends in recent decreases across age, gender, and ethnicity categories.

Using discharges from hospitals in the National Inpatient Sample (NIS) from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) between 2001 and 2007, the study included 2,179,509 AMI hospitalizations. The 2000 Census data with annual intercensal survey adjustments were used to calculate population-based overall and AMI rates.

 

Key Findings:

  • The rate of AMI hospitalizations decreased from 314 per 100,000 patients to 222 per 100,000 patients. This was a 29.2 percent decrease.
  • Absolute decreases in AMI hospitalizations were greater in older patients than in younger patients.
  • Relative decrease in AMI hospitalization rates in White patients was 30.8 percent, compared to 13.7 percent among Black patients.
  • White women had a 31.4 percent relative decrease as compared to a 12.6 percent relative decrease among Black women.
  • White men had the largest absolute decrease in AMI hospitalization rates in each age group studies.

Overall, despite a decreased rate of AMI hospitalizations overall, across all age groups studied, the observed decrease was less for Black patients compared to White patients.

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