Myocardial infarction in patients over 90 years of age

BACKGROUND The aim of this study was to examine the trend in increasing life expectancy in relation to heart attack and cardiac catheterization. METHODS A retrospective study of very elderly patients over 90 years of age (study group) and between 70 and 79 years of age (control group) with myocardial infarction and acute coronary syndrome who underwent coronary angiography was conducted. RESULTS A total of 1100 cardiac catheterizations were performed in the cardiac catheterization laboratory of Vinzentius-Hospital in Landau, Germany from 2007 to 2011. The number of coronary angiographies performed in patients aged over 90 years and those aged 70-79 years was 36 and 354, respectively, during this same time period. No increase in the number of evidence-based therapy for coronary heart disease by cardiac catheterization was observed in the very elderly patients over this time period. CONCLUSION An increase in the number of patients aged over 90 years and a rise in heart attacks, as evaluated by coronary angiography, could not be found in this study.