Cardiogenic shock complicating acute myocardial infarction; prognostic impact of early and late shock development.

AIMS Cardiogenic shock accounts for the majority of deaths following acute myocardial infarction. The majority of outcome data on this issue are, however, derived from single hospitals, referral centers or selected patients in randomized studies. The purpose of this study was to investigate incidence, outcome and prognostic significance of cardiogenic shock in 6676 consecutive patients with acute myocardial infarction. METHODS AND RESULTS Demographic and clinical data including the presence of cardiogenic shock were prospectively collected in 6676 non-invasively managed patients with myocardial infarction consecutively admitted to 27 different hospitals during a 2-year period. Six-year mortality data were collected in 99.9% of the population. Cardiogenic shock developed in 444 patients (6.7%). In 59% of these patients cardiogenic shock developed within 48 h, 11% developed shock during days 3 and 4 and 30% later than 4 days after the infarction. Thirty-day and 6-year mortality was 62 and 88% among shock patients compared to 9 and 45% in non-shock patients. Patients with early shock development (days 1-2) had a significantly lower 30-day mortality (45%) than those with intermediate or late shock development (>80%) (P<0.05). In 30-day survivors, survival the following years was lower than in patients without cardiogenic shock but with post-infarction heart failure. CONCLUSIONS In this nationwide prospectively collected registry, non-invasively managed consecutive myocardial infarct patients with cardiogenic shock had an extremely reduced life expectancy. Every attempt to improve treatment, prevention and identification of patients at risk of shock development should be strongly encouraged.