CLINICAL AND ANGIOGRAPHIC FEATURES OF PATIENTS FROM THE INDIAN SUBCONTINENT TREATED WITH INTRAVENOUS STREPTOKINASE FOR ACUTE MYOCARDIAL-INFARCTION - EXPERIENCE IN QATAR

The authors reviewed their experience with 245 patients who were treated with intravenous streptokinase for acute myocardial infarction at an average time of less than three hours from the onset of chest pain. Of these, 148 patients were from the Indian subcontinent (Group 1) and the remaining (Group 2) were predominantly from an Arabic background. Group 1 patients were younger and had lower serum cholesterol and fibrinogen levels than the Group 2 patients. Group 1 patients had a lower incidence of previous myocardial infarction (p = 0.0006) and antecedent angina pectoris (p = 0.017). A patency rate of 77.5% was seen in all patients studied at 5.37 +/- 2.96 days after admission and was similar in both the groups. Group 1 patients had a lesser extent of coronary artery disease (p = 0.01) manifested as a higher incidence of single-vessel disease (p = 0.06) and a lower incidence (p = 0.06) of three-vessel obstruction. The overall mortality for the initial hospitalization was 2.18% and showed no difference between the two groups. Patients from the Indian subcontinent presenting with acute myocardial infarction appear to be a unique population in that they are younger, have a somewhat lower cardiac risk profile, and have less extensive coronary artery disease than their Arabic counterparts.