The impact of age on the incidence and prognosis of initial acute myocardial infarction: The Worcester Heart Attack Study

This study examines the effect of age among patients hospitalized for severe heart attack, or acute myocardial infarction (MI) in the Worcester, Massachusetts area. The correspondence between age and the number of incidents of first MI was examined, as well as between age and survival, both in the hospital and long-term. Among discharged survivors, advanced age related to poorer long-term survival over a follow-up period lasting five years. Those patients older than 75 were more than twice as likely to die within five years of discharge as those patients aged less than 55 years. This study reinforces the need for the reduction of heart attack risk factors in both young and older individuals, and the importance of focused therapeutic efforts to repair the damaged hearts of elderly patients hospitalized with acute MI.