Prognostic Impact of In-Hospital and Postdischarge Heart Failure in Patients With Acute Myocardial Infarction: A Nationwide Analysis Using Data From the Cardiovascular Disease in Norway (CVDNOR) Project

Background-—Heart failure (HF) is a serious complication of acute myocardial infarction (AMI). We explored the excess mortality associated with HF as an early or late complication of AMI and describe changes over time in such excess mortality. Methods and Results-—All patients hospitalized with an incident AMI and without history of prior HF hospitalization were followed up to 1 year after AMI discharge for episodes of HF. New HF episodes were classified as in-hospital HF if diagnosed during the AMI hospitalization or postdischarge HF if diagnosed within 1 year after discharge from the incident AMI. Logistic and Cox regression models were used to explore the excess mortality associated with HF categories. Changes over time in the excess mortality were assessed by testing the interaction between HF status and study year. In-hospital HF increased in-hospital mortality 1.79 times (odds ratio [OR], 1.79; 95% CI: 1.68–1.91). The excess mortality associated with HF increased by 4.3 times from 2001 to 2009 (P interaction