In-hospital heart attack deaths are rising among people younger than 55 despite heart attack deaths for adults 55 and older declining, according to a Feb. 26 American Heart Association news release.
The study, published in the Journal of the American Heart Association, used National Inpatient Sample data for adults ages 18-54 from 2011 to 2022. Researchers compare data for two heart attack subtypes: ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) and non-STEMI Among more than 945,000 first-time hospitalizations, nearly 40% were for patients with STEMI and more than 62% were for non-STEMI.
“U.S. heart attack deaths appeared to have plateaued or decreased, based on observational studies that extended into 2010,” Mohan Satish, MD, the study’s lead author and a clinical cardiovascular disease fellow and T32 postdoctoral fellow at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York City, said in the release. “However, that decline appears to have been driven largely by older adults and men. We often think heart attacks are mainly an older person’s problem; however, our findings indicate that younger adults, especially women, are at real risk.”
Here are five study findings:
1. Among both subtypes of heart attack, a higher proportion were among white men and women, compared to other racial groups.
2. In-hospital death rates rose by 1.2% among adults younger than 54 with a first STEMI. However death rates among non-STEMI were unchanged.
3. Women had higher rates of death in hospital at 3.1% for those with STEMI and 1% for non-STEMI. Men had an in-hospital death rate of 2.6% for STEMI and less than 1% for non-STEMI.
4. Women have similar rates of in-hospital complications compared to men, but had fewer cardiovascular procedures to identify and treat causes of their heart attack.
5. More nontraditional risk factors for heart attack, including low income, kidney disease and non-tobacco use, were strongly linked to death in hospitals from a heart attack compared to traditional risk factors.
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