Clinical Characteristics and Outcomes of Elderly Patients Undergoing Primary Percutaneous Coronary Intervention: An Observational Cohort Study

The global trend of population aging has resulted in more frequent cardiovascular disease among seniors. Primary percutaneous coronary intervention (pPCI) is the standard of care for ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) without an upper age limit. Nevertheless, the outcomes are variable among studies, and data on pPCI outcomes in the elderly in Africa is scarce. Thus, we attempted to gain better insight into the outcomes of primary PCI in this age group from a single center in upper Egypt. To study the patient characteristics and in-hospital outcomes of pPCI in elderly patients presenting with STEMI in a tertiary cardiac center in upper Egypt. This observational cohort study was based on data from the pPCI registry in a tertiary cardiac center in upper Egypt, which included 3,627 consecutive patients who underwent pPCI between January 2014 and June 2023. The elderly were defined as those aged 70 years or older and represented 15.9% (575 patients) of the entire cohort, of whom 103 (2.8%) were octogenarians. Clinical characteristics, procedural details, and in-hospital outcomes were compared between the age groups. The elderly had a significant trend of being female and hypertensive, and having chronic kidney disease (CKD), worse Killip class, more frequent severe non-culprit vessel lesions, and left main trunk involvement. The in-hospital mortality was significantly higher than that of younger patients (14.1 vs. 4%, p =