Trends in hospital discharges, management and in-hospital mortality from acute myocardial infarction in Switzerland between 1998 and 2008

Background Since the late nineties, no study has assessed the trends in management and in-hospital outcome of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in Switzerland. Our objective was to fill this gap. Methods Swiss hospital discharge database for years 1998 to 2008. AMI was defined as a primary discharge diagnosis code I21 according to the ICD10 classification. Invasive treatments and overall in-hospital mortality were assessed. Results Overall, 102,729 hospital discharges with a diagnosis of AMI were analyzed. The percentage of hospitalizations with a stay in an Intensive Care Unit decreased from 38.0% in 1998 to 36.2% in 2008 (p for trend Conclusion In Switzerland, a steep rise in hospital discharges and in revascularization procedures for AMI occurred between 1998 and 2008. The increase in revascularization procedures could explain the decrease in in-hospital mortality rates.