Influence of ambulance use on early reperfusion therapies for acute myocardial infarction

Influence of ambulance use on early reperfusion

therapies for acute myocardial infarction

SONG Li;HU Da-yi;YAN Hong-bing;YANG Jin-gang;SUN Yi-hong;LI Chao;LIU Shu-shan;WU Dong;FENG Qi

【期刊名称】《中华医学杂志（英文版）》 【年(卷),期】2008(121)009

【摘要】Background Ambulance use expedites the definitive treatment of acute myocardial infarction (AMI). The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of ambulance use on the administration of early reperfusion therapies for patients with AMI in Beijing, China.Methods Data were prospectively collected from 498 patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) who were admitted within 12 hours of symptom onset to 19 hospitals in Beijing between November 1,2005 and December 31, 2006. The baseline characteristics of and the initial management of the ambulance users and the non-ambulance users were compared.Results Only 186 (37.3%) patients used an ambulance as transportation to the hospital. Ambulance users were, on average, older and at relatively higher risk on presentation than the non-ambulance users. After adjustment for patient and hospital characteristics, ambulance use was associated with a greater early reperfusion rate, mainly because of a greater incidence of primary percutaneous coronary intervention. In addition, ambulance users had a significantly