Does Comorbidity Account for the Excess Mortality in Patients With Major Bleeding in Acute Myocardial Infarction?

Abstract

Major bleeding occurred in 1 in 35 patients with acute myocardial infarction; these patients accounted for approximately 10% of all hospital deaths. Nevertheless, risk of hospital mortality associated with bleeding was much lower than reported in randomized controlled trials. These data suggest that although bleeding may be causally related to adverse outcomes in some patients in the real-world setting, it is often merely a marker for patients at higher risk for adverse outcomes.