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Much effort has recently been spent on improving in-hospital outcomes of acute MI. To examine what happens after discharge, investigators estimated 30-day risk-standardized mortality rates (RSMRs) after treatment for acute MI in U.S. hospitals and assessed changes over time. They used administrative claims data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on 3,195,672 discharges involving 2,755,370 patients (mean age, 78; 51% women; 89% white) from 1995 through 2006.
During the study period, the proportion of patients with coexisting illnesses (including hypertension, diabetes, renal disease, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) increased. From 1995–1996 to 2005–2006, the percentage of patients discharged to skilled nursing or i…