LAUSR

BACKGROUND Although the easy availability of invasive cardiac care facilities is associated with an increase in their use, their influence on outcomes is not clear. We sought to investigate whether a newly available cardiac catheterization laboratory (CCL) performing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) on a part-time (PT) basis might improve outcomes in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI). METHODS This was an observational cohort study that included all consecutive patients with AMI admitted to a secondary-level hospital in Spain before and after the PT-CCL opened in January 2006: during 1998-2005 and 2006-2014, respectively. All-cause in-hospital and long-term mortality were the co-primary endpoints. In-hospital complications and length of stay were secondary endpoints. For the analyses, patients were stratified according to propensity-score (PS) quintiles. RESULTS A total of 5339 patients were recruited, and 50.3% were managed after the opening of the PT-CCL. The PT-CCL was associated with greater use of PCI (81.2 vs. 32.5%, p<0.001) and guidelines-recommended medication (all p<0.001), lower risk of recurrent angina (PS-adjusted RR=0.160, 95% CI 0.115-0.222) and shorter length of hospital stay (PS-adjusted RR for length of stay <8days=0.357, 95% CI 0.301-0.422). In patients with NSTEMI, PT-CCL was associated with improved long-term survival (PS-adjusted HR=0.764, 95% CI 0.602-0.970). CONCLUSIONS In patients with AMI, a new PT-CCL was associated with greater use of PCI and guideline-recommended medication, lower risk of recurrent angina and shorter length of hospital stay. In a subset of patients with NSTEMI, PT-CCL was associated with improved long-term survival.