Lower hospital volume is associated with higher in-hospital mortality in patients undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention for ST-segment-elevation myocardial infarction: A report from the NCDR

Background: Current guidelines recommend >36 primary percutaneous coronary interventions (PCIs) per hospital per year. Whether these standards remain valid when routine coronary stenting and newer pharmacological agents are used is unclear.

Methods and results: We analyzed patients who underwent primary PCI from July 2006 through June 2009 included in the CathPCI Registry. Hospitals were separated into 3 groups: low (≤36 primary PCIs/y, current guideline recommendation), intermediate (>36-60 primary PCIs/y), and high volume (>60 primary PCIs/y). In-hospital mortality and door-to-balloon time were examined for each group. A total of 87 324 patient visits for 86 044 patients from 738 hospitals were included. There were 278 low- (38%), 236 (32%) intermediate-, and 224 (30%) high-volume hospitals. The majority of patients with primary PCI (54%) were treated at high-volume hospitals, with 15% at low-volume hospitals. Unadjusted mortality was significantly higher in low-volume hospitals compared with high-volume hospitals (5.6% versus 4.8%; P<0.001), which was maintained after multivariate adjustment (1.20; 95% confidence interval, 1.08-1.33; P=0.001). In contrast, mortality was not significantly different between intermediate-volume and high-volume hospitals (4.8% versus 4.8%; adjusted odds ratio, 1.02; 95% confidence interval, 0.94-1.11; P=0.61). Door-to-balloon times were significantly shorter in high-volume hospitals compared with low-volume hospitals (median, 72 minutes; interquartile range, [53-91] versus 77 [57-100] minutes; P<0.0001).

Conclusions: Higher annual hospital volume of primary PCI continues to be associated with lower mortality, with higher mortality in hospitals performing ≤36 primary PCIs/y.