Baseline demographic and clinical characteristics
| 2019 (n=8698) | 2020 (n=7385) | P value | |
| Age, median (IQR) | 63 (54–72) | 62 (54–71) | 0.098* |
| Age >75 years, n (%) | 1682 (19.3) | 1365 (18.5) | 0.17 |
| Male gender, n (%) | 6571 (75.5) | 5593 (75.7) | 0.78 |
| Medical history, n (%) | |||
| Diabetes mellitus | 2038 (23.4) | 1774 (24.0) | 0.38 |
| Hypertension | 4745 (54.6) | 4067 (55.1) | 0.41 |
| Hypercholesterolaemia | 3445 (39.6) | 2908 (39.4) | 0.77 |
| Active smoker | 4805 (55.5) | 3936 (53.5) | 0.013 |
| Family history of CAD | 1835 (21.1) | 1463 (19.8) | 0.044 |
| Previous STEMI | 832 (9.6) | 711 (9.6) | 0.89 |
| Previous PCI | 1038 (11.9) | 955 (12.9) | 0.056 |
| Previous CABG | 144 (1.7) | 127 (1.7) | 0.703 |
| Geographical area, n (%) | <0.001 | ||
| Europe | 6983 (80.3) | 5831 (79.0) | |
| Latin America | 630 (7.2) | 720 (9.7) | |
| South-East Asia | 706 (8.1) | 587 (7.9) | |
| North Africa | 379 (4.4) | 247 (3.3) | |
| Referral to primary PCI hospital, n (%) | |||
| Type | 0.704 | ||
| Direct access to hub | 2449 (28.2) | 2064 (27.9) | |
| Ambulance (from community) | 4162 (47.8) | 3576 (48.4) | |
| Transfer from spoke | 2087 (24.0) | 1745 (23.6) | |
| Time delays | |||
| Total ischaemia (min), median (IQR) | 196 (120–355) | 225 (135–410) | <0.001* |
| Total ischaemia time, n (%) | <0.001 | ||
| <6 hours | 6622 (76.1) | 5300 (71.8) | |
| 6–12 hours | 12 841 (14.8) | 1215 (16.5) | |
| 12–24 hours | 537 (6.2) | 551 (7.5) | |
| >24 hours | 255 (2.9) | 319 (4.3) | |
| Total ischaemia time >12 hours | 792 (9.1) | 870 (11.8) | <0.001 |
| Door-to-balloon time (min), median (IQR) | 40 (25–64) | 40 (25–70) | 0.01* |
| Door-to-balloon time, n (%) | <0.001 | ||
| <30 min | 3579 (41.1) | 2854 (38.6) | |
| 30–60 min | 2845 (32.7) | 2414 (32.7) | |
| >60 min | 2274 (26.1) | 2117 (28.7) | |
| Door-to-balloon time >30 min | 5111 (58.9) | 4531 (61.4) | 0.001 |
| Clinical presentation, n (%) | |||
| Anterior STEMI | 3986 (45.8) | 3460 (46.9) | 0.19 |
| Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest | 515 (5.9) | 441 (6.0) | 0.92 |
| Cardiogenic shock | 625 (7.2) | 543 (7.4) | 0.6 |
| Rescue PCI for failed thrombolysis | 605 (7.0) | 494 (6.7) | 0.51 |
*Mann-Whitney test.
CABG, coronary artery bypass graft; CAD, coronary artery disease; PCI, percutaneous coronary intervention; STEMI, ST segment elevation myocardial infarction.