RT Journal
A1 Russek HI, Zohman BL, Doerner AA, Russek AS, White LG
T1 AGe and survival in cases of acute myocardial infarction
JF Journal of the American Medical Association
JO Journal of the American Medical Association
YR 1951
FD December 29
VO 147
IS 18
SP 1731
OP 1733
DO 10.1001/jama.1951.03670350011003
UL http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/jama.1951.03670350011003
AB For the elderly patient with acute myocardial infarction a poor prognosis is frequently made by his attending physician, even when an uneventful recovery appears to be in progress. It is not clear whether this attitude is based on sound clinical and statistical experience or originates from the defeatism that has long been associated with treatment of the aged. It is true that crude statistics have shown that the mortality rate from acute myocardial infarction increases among those of advancing years. Woods and Barnes1 observed the death rate to be twice as great among those beyond 60 as among those below; Rathe,2 in his analysis of a series of cases, concluded that a poor prognosis is indicated when the patient is over 55. Hellmuth,3 Levine and Brown4 and others also confirmed the observation that the prognosis of an acute attack of myocardial infarction becomes progressively more serious