Quality improvement in the interventional treatment of acute myocardial infarction: 5 health care systems and their innovative solutions to regional challenges.

摘要

Despite advances in medical care over the past 5 decades, including interventions in prevention, peri-infarction observation, modalities of revascularization in acute myocardial infarction (MI), and post-MI pharmaco-logic therapies, cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains the number 1 cause of mortality globally. According to the World Health Organization, in 2003, CVD accounted for 29% of total global deaths, with a remarkable 80% of those deaths occurring in low- and middle-income countries; in 2010, CVD s are estimated to be the leading cause of death in developing nations (those with high percentages of their population living in extreme poverty) as well. Although we have made striking progress in mortality reduction from acute MI, CVD remains highly prevalent in the United Sates, with an estimated 81 million individuals-more than one quarter of our population-suffering from 1 or more CVDs.