Ischemic Heart Disease Prognosis

Abstract

Surveillance of hospitalizations for myocardial infarction from Jan 1, 1966 to Dec 31, 1969, yielded 6,987 reports from all 25 hospitals which admit such patients in King County, Washington. From these reports, we sought possible determinants of prognosis among the following factors: age, sex, race, marital status, hour, day of week, month of year and calendar year of admission, presence or absence of a coronary care unit; and size, location, and type of hospital. Only age had marked influence on hospital fatalities with patients less than 60 years of age averaging 12% fatalities and older patients showing a steadily increasing fatality percentage to 50% in the oldest age group. Patients hospitalized in facilities with coronary care units had slightly lower fatality rates than other patients. Monday admissions substantially exceeded those on other days of the week.