ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION Coronary artery disease (CAD) is the leading cause of death in older persons. Although persons older than 65 years comprise 12% of the population (1), approximately 60% of hospital admissions for acute myocardial infarction (MI) occur in persons older than 65 years of age, and persons older than 75 years of age account for nearly half of these admissions of patients with MI older than 65 years (2). Not only is the in-hospital mortality higher in older patients with MI than in younger patients with MI, but the postdischarge mortality rate is higher in older persons, with the 1-year cardiac mortality rate of 12% for patients aged 65-75 years and 17.6% for patients older than 75 years (3). Approximately two-thirds of these 1-year deaths were sudden or related to a new MI (3). This chapter discusses the management of the older patient after MI.
