Findings from the North American COVID-19 myocardial infarction (NACMI) registry demonstrate significantly higher one-year mortality rates in patients with COVID-19 and ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) compared to patients with STEMI alone, freshly presented data show.
Reputedly the first study to describe long-term outcomes in patients with STEMI and COVID-19, Payam Dehghani (Prairie Vascular Research, Regina, Canada) told attendees at the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography & Interventions (SCAI) 2026 Scientific Sessions & Canadian Association of Interventional Cardiology (CAIC-ACCI) Summit (23–25 April; Montreal, Canada) that patients with COVID-19 and STEMI had a 67% higher one-year mortality rate compared to those who did not have the virus (45% vs. 27%, respectively; p<0.001).
This long-term follow-up sub-study included a total of 2,358 STEMI patients, with three subgroups: COVID-19 positive (n=623), COVID-19 negative (n=694) and matched controls (n=1,041).
Most deaths (86%) occurred during the initial hospital stay. Among survivors of initial hospitalisation, one-year mortality rates were 25% higher in patients with COVID-19 (12% vs. 9.6%; p<0.001) and more than double the pre-pandemic rate (5.3%; p<0.001).
Additional analyses exploring potential gender disparities among patients with COVID-19 and STEMI are underway, the researchers behind the findings said.
