Clinical epidemiology of acute myocardial infarction in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates

Abstract

Little published information about the clinical epidemiology of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is available. To fill this knowledge gap, all patients with confirmed AMI who were treated at the intensive care unit of the Kuwait Hospital, Sharjah, during 1991 were prospectively studied. This hospital, primarily for expatriate patients, provides outpatient and hospital care to expatriates for a nominal fee and to UAE citizens free of charge. It is estimated that about 80% of all expatriate AMI patients in Sharjah receive initial treatment at this hospital. Of all 153 patients studied, 95.4% were men and 4.6% were women. Preexisting ischaemic heart disease, hypertension and diabetes were recorded in 30.2 (39/129), 17.8 (27/152) and 14.6% (22/151) of the patients, respectively. Overall, 73.7% (112/152) of the patients were current cigarette smokers. Of all 153 patients, 48.4, 35.9, 7.2 and 8.5% had anterior, inferior, lateral and `other' types of AMI, respectively. Of 152 patients with available data, 15 (9.9%) died in the hospital. In a multivariate logistic regression model including all significant univariate correlates of in-hospital death (age, nationality, history of hypertension and current smoking practice) as independent variables, only being a current cigarette smoker was significantly related to a lower risk of in-hospital death in the study patients (O.R.=0.27; 95% C.I.: 0.08–0.96). Also, UAE Arab nationality and preexisting hypertension were notable, though nonsignificant, positive correlates of in-hospital death in this model. These finding should guide future in-depth studies of the clinical epidemiology of AMI in Sharjah and elsewhere in the UAE.