The North American COVID-19 ST-Segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction (NACMI) Registry reported a 25 percent reduction in early mortality in 2021 compared to 2020 among patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) and COVID-19 infection.
STEMI is a severe heart attack that affects the heart’s lower chambers when the artery to the heart is completely blocked.
The same study showed no deaths for patients that were vaccinated against COVID-19. 64 medical centers across North America and Canada contributed data to the registry including The Christ Hospital Health Network.
In the initial findings, it was reported that 33% of North American patients with both COVID-19 and a STEMI died in the hospital. In the current study, patients who in 2020 were positive for COVID-19 and had experienced a STEMI, were compared with patients treated in 2021 when vaccines became commercially available.
“We are proud of the research conducted at The Christ Hospital Heart and Vascular Institute that contributed to this important study to better understand heart attack, COVID-19 and vaccination against SARS-CoV-2,” Timothy Henry, MD, medical director of The Carl and Edyth Lindner Research Center at The Christ Hospital, said. “The results from the research are clear; vaccination is the greatest tool in avoiding worse health outcomes and even death after a diagnosis of COVID-19.”
Highlights from the research include:
- In 2021, none of the 22 vaccinated patients died in a hospital; in-hospital death was recorded in 22% of unvaccinated patients
- 586 COVID-positive patients with STEMI were included in the present analysis
- 227 treated in 2020; 359 treated in 2021
“The management and outcomes of STEMI patients with COVID-19 infection during the pandemic is evolving towards that of STEMI patients prior to the pandemic although mortality remains high for unvaccinated patients,” said Santiago Garcia, MD, lead author of the study. “The registry was established in 2020 with the aim to define baseline characteristics and management strategies and outcome data for COVID+ patients presenting with STEMI.”
Beginning April 14, Garcia will join The Christ Hospital Heart & Vascular Institute as a structural and interventional cardiologist.
These data were presented at the American College of Cardiology Scientific Session and simultaneously published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
