Acute kidney injury and in-hospital mortality in patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction of different age groups

Abstract Background Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a well-known complication of ST-elevation acute myocardial infarction (STEMI) with an adverse impact on prognosis. Since AKI develops more frequently in elderly patients, we hypothesized that its higher incidence in older STEMI patients might explain their increased in-hospital mortality. We assessed the relationship between AKI and in-hospital mortality in patients with STEMI of different age groups. Methods We retrospectively evaluated 5136 STEMI patients treated with primary percutaneous coronary intervention (pPCI). We defined AKI as ≥0.5 mg/dl creatinine increase in the first 72 h. Patients were grouped according to age ( Results The incidence of AKI was 7%. It was 4.6% in patients 85 years). Conclusions In STEMI patients treated with pPCI, AKI incidence and in-hospital mortality steadily increase with age. However, the prognostic impact of AKI is progressively reduced as age increases.