Abstract
Background: We hypothesized that symptom presentation in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) may affect their management and subsequent outcome. Methods and Results: Using Rural AMI Registry data, 1,337 consecutive patients with AMI who underwent percutaneous coronary intervention were analyzed. Typical symptoms were defined as any symptoms of chest pain or pressure due to myocardial ischemia. We considered the specific symptoms of dyspnea, nausea, or vomiting as atypical symptoms. The primary outcome was 30-day mortality. There were 150 (11.2%) and 1,187 (88.8%) patients who presented with atypical and typical symptoms, respectively. Those who presented with atypical symptoms were significantly older (mean [±SD] age 74±12 vs. 68±13 years; P<0.001) and had a higher Killip class (46.7% vs. 21.8%; P<0.001) than patients presenting with typical symptoms. The prevalence of door-to-balloon time of ≤90 min was significantly lower in patients with atypical than typical symptoms (40.0% vs. 66.3%; P<0.001). At 30 days, there were 55 incidents of all-cause death. Multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression analysis revealed that symptom presentation was associated with 30-day mortality (hazard ratio 2.33; 95% confidence interval 1.20-4.38; P<0.05). Conclusions: Atypical symptoms in patients with AMI are less likely to lead to timely reperfusion and are associated with increased risk of 30-day mortality.