Current Trend of Acute Myocardial Infarction in Korea (from the Korea Acute Myocardial Infarction Registry from 2006 to 2013)

Although the incidence of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in Korea has been rapidly changed because of westernization of diet, lifestyle, and aging of the population, the recent trend of the myocardial infarction have not been reported by classification. We investigated recent trends in the incidence and mortality associated with the 2 major types of AMI. We reviewed 39,978 patients registered in the Korea Acute Myocardial Infarction Registry for either ST-segment elevation acute myocardial infarction (STEMI) or non–ST-segment elevation acute myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) from 2006 to 2013. When the rate for AMI were investigated according to each year, the incidence rates of STEMI decreased markedly from 60.5% in 2006 to 48.1% in 2013 (p <0.001). In contrast, a gradual increase in the incidence rates of NSTEMI was observed from 39.5% in 2006 to 51.9% in 2013 (p <0.001). As risk factors, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and dyslipidemia were much more common in patients with NSTEMI than STEMI. Among medical treatments, the use of β blockers, angiotensin receptor blocker, and statin were increased from 2006 to 2013 in patients with STEMI and NSTEMI. Patients with STEMI and NSTEMI were more inclined to be increasingly treated by invasive treatments with percutaneous coronary intervention. In conclusion, this study demonstrated that the trend of myocardial infarction has been changed rapidly in the aspect of risk factors, ratio of STEMI versus NSTEMI, and therapeutic strategies during the recent 8 years in Korea.