RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Myocardial infarction (MI) in young patients is rare. To address the gap in published all comers German studies concerning the clinical course and outcome of young patients aged ≤40 years with acute MI, the aim of this study was to identify differences between young and older, consecutive patients with MI and to compare these findings with previously published data. METHODS: This analysis used data of the prospective Dresden Myocardial Infarction Registry (1/2005-9/2014), an all comers, prospective registry in the department of Internal Medicine and Cardiology at the Heart Center Dresden, University Hospital Dresden. RESULTS: In total, data from 119 patients ≤40 years and 5754 patients >40 years were included in the analysis. In contrast to the older patients, younger patients were more often male (79.0% vs. 70.5%), smokers, had a positive family history for MI, lower educational qualifications, and lived alone. Young patients experienced more frequently STEMI than NSTEMI (70% vs. 30%), while the older patient group showed an equal distribution of infarction types (50% vs. 50%). The in-hospital mortality of young patients (2.5% vs. 7.6%) was lower. The survival rate of young patients in the 2-year follow-up was significantly higher (95% vs. 82.7%). Lifestyle modifications as part of secondary prevention were only moderately implemented. CONCLUSIONS: Compared to older patients, the outcome of young patients is significantly better and the acute event resolved without serious sequelae in most cases. Despite good cardiologic follow-up, implementation of secondary prevention was only moderate, indicating a need for more efficient patient education.