Mortality and Other Studies Questioning the Evidence for and Value of Routine Anticoagulant Therapy in Acute Myocardial Infarction

Abstract

This study of 1350 patients with acute myocardial infarction admitted to several hospitals during a 10-year period attempts to answer several questions currently in dispute: the correlation of the patient's condition on admission with the mortality rate, the relation of the patient's age to prognosis, and the value of routine anticoagulant therapy. It presents the major statistical objections to the study by the Committee for the Evaluation of Anticoagulants of the American Heart Association, questions the evidence upon which the Committee made its recommendations and concludes that incontrovertible proof of the advantages of routine anticoagulant therapy in patients mildly ill on admission to the hospital has not been presented thus far.