Incidence and Prognostic Impact of Respiratory Support in Patients With ST-Segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction

Data addressing the use of respiratory support in acute coronary syndromes are lacking. To address this evidence gap, we characterized prognostic impact and trends in utilization of invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV) and noninvasive ventilation (NIV) in patients hospitalized with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) from 2002 through 2013 using the National Inpatient Sample. Multivariate logistic regression was performed to identify patient, hospital, and clinical characteristics associated with requiring IMV or NIV within 24 hours of hospitalization. Multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression was used to quantify the magnitude of in-hospital mortality associated with IMV and NIV use. From 2002 to 2013, we identified 1,867,114 patients with STEMI. Age, gender, higher co-morbidity burden, and chronic pulmonary disease were significantly associated with need for respiratory support. The use of IMV and NIV increased at average annual rates of 6.6% and 14.3%, respectively (p_trend <0.001). Age- and gender-adjusted mortality rates are high but declined for patients with STEMI requiring IMV (44.7% in 2002 to 37.6% in 2013, p_trend = 0.002) and NIV (11.6% in 2002 to 6.8% in 2013, p_trend <0.001). Compared to patients with STEMI with no ventilation need, a requirement for IMV or NIV was associated with increased adjusted in-hospital mortality (hazard ratio 2.5, p <0.001 and 1.7, p <0.001, respectively). In conclusion, approximately 1 in 23 patients hospitalized with STEMI will require respiratory support in the form of IMV or NIV. Patients with STEMI who require respiratory support have a high risk of death, although rates of in-hospital mortality have decreased over time.