Temporal trends in cardiovascular risk factors prevalence in patients with myocardial infarction

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES
Little is known about changes in cardiovascular risk factors (CVRF) profile over time in patients presenting with acute myocardial infarction (AMI).

METHODS
We assessed changes in age and CVRF profile in consecutive AMI patients enrolled in the Swiss nationwide AMIS Plus registry between January 1, 1997 and December 31, 2018.

RESULTS
A total of 57,995 AMI patients were included in the analysis. Mean age at presentation was 71.5±11.3 years for women and 63.9±12.8 years for men and did not change over time. Overall, the mean (standard deviation) number of CVRF increased from 1.76 (1.07) in 1997/98 to 2.26 (1.10) in 2017/18 in men (P <0.001) while the corresponding rates in females were 1.83 (1.11) and 2.24 (1.08) (P <0.001). In terms of active smoking, no significant trend was detected for males while there was a significant increase in females (p<0.001). As a result, the gap in smoking rates between men and women presenting with AMI decreased from 19.9% (45.3% vs. 25.4%) in 1997/98 to 7.9% (41.2% vs. 33.3%) in 2017/18. Reassuring was the stability in terms of diabetes prevalence for both genders. Obesity was more prevalent over time in men while the prevalence of hypertension and dyslipidemia increased in both genders.