Background
While there is an agreement on the impact of door-to-balloon time as a prognostic factor, it is unknown whether the in-hospital outcome of patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) differs when presenting during business hours (ON hours) vs. after hours (OFF hours).
Methods
In this retrospective study, 786 consecutive patients with STEMI were referred for primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) to a tertiary care center. ON hours was defined as the hours between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. weekdays and OFF hours as all other times, including holidays. The study outcomes were in-hospital complications and hospital length of stay (LOS).
Methods
In this retrospective study, 786 consecutive patients with STEMI were referred for primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) to a tertiary care center. ON hours was defined as the hours between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. weekdays and OFF hours as all other times, including holidays. The study outcomes were in-hospital complications and hospital length of stay (LOS).
Results
ON-hours (29.5%, n =232) and OFF-hours (70.5%, n =554) groups had similar demographic and baseline characteristics. ON-hours patients were more likely to receive AngioJet (2.4% vs. 0.8%, P =.03), intravascular ultrasound (23.1% vs. 7.1%, P =.01), post-PCI loaded with clopidogrel (41.4% vs. 26.2%, P =<0.01), and paclitaxel-eluting stent (4.7% vs. 1.4%, P <.01). There were no significant differences in cardiogenic shock, transfusion, major bleeding, in-hospital death, acute renal failure, LOS, or vascular complications ( P =NS, Fig. 1 ).
