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Risk Stratification for Older Adults with Myocardial Infarction

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Abstract

Older adults presenting with an acute myocardial infarction (MI) have an increased morbidity and mortality as compared to younger adults. The management of MI in older adults is dependent on accurate risk stratification incorporating the vast patient heterogeneity characteristic of this population. Traditional risk stratification methods differ in their predictive validity as age increases and important geriatric risk factors such as multimorbidity and geriatric syndromes (e.g., frailty) are often not taken into consideration when developing patient-centered care plans. The dearth of specific clinical practice guidelines for this population, due in part to the exclusion of representative older adults in clinical trials, has resulted in elderly patients with an MI receiving evidence based reperfusion and secondary prevention therapies at much lower rates compared to their younger counterparts. Recent developments in geriatric cardiology have begun to identify and address these gaps, but much evidence still needs to be established in this area.

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Acknowledgement

Dr. Bell is supported by the National Institutes of Health NICHD-K award 2K12HD043483-11, NIA-K award K23AG048347, and by the Eisenstein’s Women’s Heart Fund.

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Correspondence to Susan P. Bell.

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The authors, Avantika A. Saraf and Susan P. Bell, declare no conflict of interest.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Elderly and Heart Disease

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Saraf, A.A., Bell, S.P. Risk Stratification for Older Adults with Myocardial Infarction. Curr Cardiovasc Risk Rep 10, 14 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12170-016-0493-6

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