Stroke and myocardial infarction in Chinese patients: comparison of risk factors and in-hospital outcomes

Background and Objective Although coronary heart disease (CHD) and stroke share important risk factors, some associations differ between these two components of cardiovascular diseases. The objective of this study was to compare vascular risk factor profiles and in-hospital outcomes in acute stroke (AS) and acute myocardial infarction (AMI) patients. Methods We evaluated 383 consecutive patients who were admitted to the 94th Hospital of Chinese PLA and the Third Hospital of Nanchang with diagnoses of AS (ischemic stroke or intracerebral hemorrhage; n = 310) or AMI (n = 73) during a 2-year period. The frequency of risk factors and inhospital mortality rates were assessed in both groups. Results AS patients were significantly older than AMI patients ( 68.9 ± 9.1 years vs. 62.8 ± 11.7 years; P < 0.01). AMI was significantly more common than AS in patients younger than 65 years; 51% of this group had AMI and 26% had AS (P < 0.001). Hypertension was more common in AS patients than in AMI patients (69% vs. 58%; P = 0.042). Patients who died did not differ significantly in age between the groups. In-hospital mortality rates were significantly higher in AS than AMI cases (31% vs. 12%, P < 0.001 for all patients; 37% vs.5%, P < 0.001 for men). Women hospitalized for AMI were more likely to die in hospital than men (28% vs. 5%; P = 0.002). Conclusions Patients with stroke and with AMI differ in their risk factor profile. Age at the time of presentation was a significant differentiating factor between patients with AS and AMI. We observed significantly higher in-hospital mortality for patients with AS (when adjusted for age) than for patients with AMI. (J Geriatr Cardiol 2008; 5:223-226)