Relation of lowering door-to-balloon time and mortality in ST segment elevation myocardial infarction patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention

Background: Current guidelines for the treatment of ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) recommend a door-to-balloon time (DBT) of ≤ 90 min for patients undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). We aimed to investigate the possible impact of further reduction in DBT intervals beyond the 90 min cutoff on short and long-term outcomes among STEMI patients undergoing primary PCI.

Methods: We retrospectively studied 889 STEMI patients (median age 61 years, 83% men) who underwent successful primary PCI and had a DBT of ≤ 90 min. Patients were stratified according to DBT into 2 groups: < 60 min and 60-90 min. Patients records were assessed for the occurrence of in-hospital complications, 30-day and 1-year mortality.

Results: Patients having DBT < 60 min (n = 608, 68%) were more likely to present earlier, in daytime and weekdays, and had better post-procedural left ventricular ejection fraction and lower 30-day mortality (3% vs. 6%, p = 0.03). Mortality over 1-year was significantly lower among patients having DBT < 60 compared to DBT of 60-90 min (4.6% vs. 9.6%, p = 0.004). In a binary logistic regression model DBT < 60 min was associated with 51% risk reduction for 1-year mortality (OR 0.49, 95% CI 0.25-0.93, p = 0.03).

Conclusions: Among STEMI patients undergoing primary PCI within 90 min of admission DBT < 60 min was independently associated with better 1-year mortality.