Natural History and Epidemiology

The incidence of NSTE-ACS is higher than STEMI and it appears that the number of NSTE-ACSs relative to STEMI is increasing with time [4].

Hospital mortality from STEMI is greater than that from NSTE-ACS but long term mortality is higher in NSTE-ACS [5]. In patients with NSTE-ACS, it is thought that greater age and higher incidence of co-morbidities, e.g. diabetes and renal impairment, contributes to the higher long term mortality.

Learning Bite

Short term mortality is higher with STEMI, but long term mortality is higher with NSTE-ACS.

Outcome from treated STEMI has improved significantly over the last few decades. In-hospital mortality prior to the 1960s was around 30% [4], dropped by the end of the 1980s to just below 20% [5], and currently is generally well under 10%, particularly in the research environment, where 30 day mortality figures as low as 5.4% have been reported [6].