Delays in Treatment for STEMI Raise Risk for Congestive Heart Failure

Timely fibrinolysis or primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) for ST-segment-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) lowers mortality. To assess whether time to treatment is associated with risk for congestive heart failure (CHF), Danish researchers evaluated risk for readmissions or outpatient follow-up for CHF among nearly 8000 patients who underwent PCI for STEMI between 1999 and 2010. Delays were calculated as the time between symptom onset and call to emergency medical services (patient delay) and time from emergency medical services call to catheterization (system delay).

During a median follow-up of 3 years, 18% of the patients died, and 10% were evaluated for CHF. System delays — but not patient delays — were associated wit…