Background: We describe the clinical characteristics, treatments and in-hospital case-fatality rates in an unselected population of patients admitted for acute myocardial infarction.Methods: From January 2000 to June 2007, we tracked consecutive patients who were admitted to 7 tertiary referral and 21 county hospitals in Romania for medical treatment of ST-segment elevation acute myocardial infarction. These patients were enrolled in the Romanian Registry for ST-segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction. For this prospective study, we collected data on demographic characteristics, cardiovascular risk factors, various aspects of treatment for myocardial infarction, and in-hospital death.Results: The 9186 patients in the study group had a mean age of 63.8 years. The median time from onset of symptoms to thrombolysis was 230 (interquartile range 120-510) minutes. Of the 9186 patients, 4986 (54.3%) had hypertension, 1974 (21.5%) had diabetes mellitus, 3545 (38.6%) had lipid disorders and 4653 (50.7%) were smokers. The in-hospital mortality rate was 12.7% (1170 deaths). The study group consisted of 2893 women and 6293 men. The women were older than the men and had higher rates of hypertension and diabetes mellitus but were less likely to be smokers. A smaller proportion of women than men presented within 2 hours after onset of symptoms (23.1% v. 34.4%, p < 0.001). Smaller proportions of women received thrombolytics (40.8% v. 53.5%, p < 0.001), anticoagulants (93.4% v. 95.2%; p = 0.001), antiplatelet agents (88.3% v. 91.2%, p < 0.001) and primary percutaneous coronary interventions (1.5% v. 2.2%, p = 0.030). The risk of in-hospital death was greater for women, even after adjustment for confounders (odds ratio 1.33, 95% confidence interval 1.13-1.56; p < 0.001).Interpretation: The rates of reperfusion therapy for patients with acute myocardial infarction were low, and in-hospital case-fatality rates were high in this study. Excess in-hospital mortality was more pronounced among women.

BACKGROUND:The classical streptokinase regimen (1.5 M.U. over 60 min) may be too slow in patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI).OBJECTIVE:To compare the efficacy and safety of four streptokinase regimens in STEMI patients.METHODS:1880 consecutive patients admitted within 6 h of STEMI onset were allocated one of the following four streptokinase regimens: 1.5 M.U. over 60 min (n=517); 1.5 M.U./30 min (n=355); 1.5 M.U./20 min (n=507); 0.75 M.U./10 min, repeated or not after 50 min if no electrocardiographic criteria of reperfusion (n=501).RESULTS:Rates of coronary reperfusion (non-invasively detected) for SK1.5/30 (72.39%), SK1.5/20 (75.34%) and SK0.75/10 (72.85%) were similar and higher than for SK1.5/60 (64.03%, p=0.019, p<0.0001, and p=0.006, respectively). In-hospital mortality was significantly lower for SK1.5/20 (7.10%) and SK0.75/10 (7.38%) and at the limit of significance for SK1.5/30 (7.60%) compared with SK1.5/60 (11.60%, p<0.0001, 0.006, and 0.053, respectively). Intracerebral haemorrhage and other major bleeding had similar incidence in the four groups.CONCLUSIONS:Compared to the classical 1.5 M.U. over 60 min streptokinase regimen, significantly higher rates of coronary reperfusion and lower in-hospital mortality can be obtained by infusing the same dose over only 20 min, or either one or two half doses over only 10 min, without risk increase.