• Hani Jneid, Gregg C Fonarow, Christopher P Cannon, Igor F Palacios, Teoman Kilic, George V Moukarbel, Andrew O Maree, Kenneth A LaBresh, Li Liang, L Kristin Newby, Gerald Fletcher, Laura Wexler, Eric Peterson, and Get With the Guidelines Steering Committee and Investigators.
• Division of Cardiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, 55 Fruit St, GRB 800 Boston, MA 02114. jneid.hani@mgh.harvard.edu.
• Circulation. 2008 May 13; 117 (19): 2502-9.

BackgroundPrior studies have demonstrated an inconsistent association between patients' arrival time for acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and their subsequent medical care and outcomes.Methods And ResultsUsing a contemporary national clinical registry, we examined differences in medical care and in-hospital mortality among AMI patients admitted during regular hours (weekdays 7 am to 7 pm) versus off-hours (weekends, holidays, and 7 pm to 7 am weeknights). The study cohort included 62,814 AMI patients from the Get With the Guidelines-Coronary Artery Disease database admitted to 379 hospitals throughout the United States from July 2000 through September 2005. Overall, 33 982 (54.1%) patients arrived during off-hours. Compared with those arriving during regular hours, eligible off-hour patients were slightly less likely to receive primary percutaneous coronary intervention (adjusted odds ratio [OR], 0.93; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.89 to 0.98), had longer door-to-balloon times (median, 110 versus 85 minutes; P<0.0001), and were less likely to achieve door-to-balloon < or = 90 minutes (adjusted OR, 0.34; 95% CI, 0.29 to 0.39). Arrival during off-hours was associated with slightly lower overall revascularization rates (adjusted OR, 0.94; 95% CI, 0.90 to 0.97). No measurable differences, however, were found in in-hospital mortality between regular hours and off-hours in the overall AMI, ST-elevated MI, and non-ST-elevated MI cohorts (adjusted OR, 0.99; 95% CI, 0.93 to 1.06; adjusted OR, 1.05; 95% CI, 0.94 to 1.18; and adjusted OR, 0.97; 95% CI, 0.90 to 1.04, respectively). Similar observations were made across most age and sex subgroups and with an alternative definition for arrival time (weekends/holidays versus weekdays).ConclusionsDespite slightly fewer primary percutaneous coronary interventions and overall revascularizations and significantly longer door-to-balloon times, patients presenting with AMI during off-hours had in-hospital mortality similar to those presenting during regular hours.

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