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Advances in primary and secondary prevention of coronary artery disease can reasonably be expected to lower incidence of acute myocardial infarction (AMI). In this analysis, investigators used Medicare data to determine whether this expectation is being realized.
The raw annual AMI hospitalization rate fell from 1131 per 100,000 person-years in 2002 to 866 per 100,000 person-years in 2007 — a 23% decline in 5 years. The authors estimated that this decline translated into 80,000 fewer AMI hospitalizations among the 30 million fee-for-service Medicare beneficiaries. After adjustment for demographics, the mean rate of hospitalization fell by about 5.8% per year. Black patients experienced smaller declines than white patients.