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Baseline characteristics, management practices, and in-hospital outcomes of patients hospitalized with acute coronary syndromes in the Global Registry of Acute Coronary Events (GRACE)*,

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Abstract

Acute coronary syndrome (ACS) represents a heterogenous spectrum of conditions. The Global Registry of Acute Coronary Events (GRACE) describes the epidemiology, management, and outcomes of patients with ACS. Data were collected from 11,543 patients enrolled in 14 countries. Of these patients, 30% had ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), 25% had non–ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI), 38% had unstable angina pectoris, and 7% had other cardiac or noncardiac diagnoses. Over half of these patients (53%) were ≥65 years old. Reperfusion therapy was used in 62% of patients with STEMI. Percutaneous coronary intervention was performed in 40% of these subjects during the index admission. Intravenous glycoprotein IIb/IIIa blockers were used in 23%, 20%, and 7% of patients with STEMI, NSTEMI, and unstable angina, respectively (STEMI vs NSTEMI, p = 0.0018, and for either group vs unstable angina, p <0.001). Coronary artery bypass grafting was performed in 4%, 10%, and 5% of patients, respectively (p <0.0001). Hospital case fatality rates were markedly different among patients with STEMI, NSTEMI, and unstable angina (7%, 6%, and 3%, respectively; STEMI vs NSTEMI, p = 0.0459, and for either group vs unstable angina, p <0.001). Congestive heart failure complicated the hospital course in 18%, 18%, and 10% of the patients, respectively (p <0.0001), and recurrent angina with ST-segment changes occurred before discharge in 10%, 10%, and 9% of patients, respectively (p = 0.2644). GRACE provides a detailed and comprehensive global description of the spectrum of patients with ACS.

Section snippets

Methods

Full details of the GRACE rationale and methods have been previously published1 and are outlined briefly as follows. A total of 95 hospitals organized into 18 clusters in 14 countries in North and South America, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand are currently collaborating in GRACE. Clusters were chosen based on local demographic characteristics and hospital facilities to ensure a representative sample of patients with ACS from each country and hospital systems of different sizes and treatment

Results

Enrollment in GRACE started in April 1999 and involved 95 institutions (Table 1). At admission, patients were assigned a working diagnosis of myocardial infarction, unstable angina, rule-out myocardial infarction, or chest pain. The present study includes a total of 11,543 patients enrolled by the end of December 31, 2000. Using the prespecified diagnostic criteria described previously, cases were subsequently divided into those with STEMI (30%), NSTEMI (25%), unstable angina (38%), or other

Discussion

The management of ACS has been well defined by clinical trials and summarized in reviews4, 5 and guidelines.6, 7, 8, 9 However, “real life” patient populations sometimes differ markedly from those in clinical trials.10 In addition, there is considerable heterogeneity in patient management practices.11 Therefore, large-scale observational data sets, such as GRACE, are important to complement the information obtained via randomized clinical trials.

One potential value of registry data is the

References (19)

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GRACE is supported by an unrestricted educational grant from Aventis Pharma, Bridgewater, New Jersey.

*

Further information about the project, along with a complete list of the study participants, can be found at www.outcomes.org/grace.

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