Impact of family history of coronary artery disease on in-hospital clinical outcomes in ST-segment myocardial infarction

Background: Patients with a family history of coronary artery disease (FHxCAD) are at increased risk for development of myocardial infarction (MI). However, the data on the influence of FHxCAD on in-hospital clinical outcomes post ST-segment myocardial infarction (STEMI) is limited. Hence, we evaluated the impact of FHxCAD on in-hospital clinical outcomes post STEMI in an unselected nationwide cohort. Methods: Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS) database [2003-2011] was used to compare differences in all-cause in-hospital mortality and adverse clinical events (cardiogenic shock, acute cerebrovascular events and use of intra-aortic balloon pump) between patients with and without FHxCAD. Results: A total of 2,123,492 STEMI admissions were identified, of which 7.4% (n=158,079) patients were with FHxCAD and 92.6% (n=1,965,413) were without FHxCAD. The FHxCAD group had lower in-hospital mortality [1.4% vs. 8.1%; adjusted odds ratio (OR): 0.42, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.41-0.44; P<0.001] when compared with no-FHxCAD group. They underwent a significantly higher number of coronary interventions, and were less likely to develop cardiogenic shock, acute cerebrovascular events and to require intra-aortic balloon pump during hospitalization. Conclusions: This large sample size study demonstrates that STEMI patients with FHxCAD had lower in-hospital mortality and adverse clinical events in comparison to patients with no-FHxCAD. Further research is warranted to determine whether the superior outcomes in FHxCAD patients with STEMI are related to differences in strategies related to diet, exercise, use of medications or coronary interventions.