Objectives: To compare outcomes one year after hospital admission for patients initially discharged with a diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction (AMI), other ischaemic heart disease (other IHD), congestive heart failure (CHF) or stroke.
Design: Cohort study.
Setting: Hunter Area Heart and Stroke Register, which registers all patients admitted with heart disease or stroke to any of the 22 hospitals in the Hunter Area Health Service in New South Wales.
Patients: 4981 patients with AMI, other IHD, CHF or stroke admitted to hospital as an emergency between 1 July 1995 and 30 June 1997 and followed for at least one year.
Main outcome measures: Death from any cause or emergency hospital readmission for cardiovascular disease.
Results: In-hospital mortality varied from 1% of those with other IHD to 22% of those with stroke. Almost a third of all patients discharged alive (and 38% of those aged 70 or more) had died or been readmitted within one year. This varied from 22% of those with stroke to 49% of those with CHF. The causes of death and readmission were from a spectrum of cardiovascular disease, regardless of the cause of the original hospital admission.
Conclusions: Data from this population register show the poor outcome, especially with increasing age, among patients admitted to hospital with cardiovascular disease. This should alert us to determine whether optimal secondary prevention strategies are being adopted among such patients.