Prognostic Significance of Infarction Location in Patients with Recurrent Myocardial Infarction

This study assesses the impact of infarct location on immediate (in-hospital) and 1- and 5-year mortality among patients with reinfarction during the year following discharge from the initial episode of myocardial infarction. The analysis included 192 patients with a second myocardial infarction who were compared in four infarction location groups. The in-hospital mortality associated with reinfarction was higher in patients with a second anterior (32%) than with a second inferior (18%) location, irrespective of the first infarction location (p = 0.03). At 5 years of follow-up, the mortality (65%) tended to be higher in patients with a first anterior-second anterior infarction as compared with patients with all other combinations of location.