• Jeptha P Curtis, Edward L Portnay, Yongfei Wang, Robert L McNamara, Jeph Herrin, Elizabeth H Bradley, David J Magid, Martha E Blaney, John G Canto, Harlan M Krumholz, and National Registry of Myocardial Infarction-4.
• Section of Cardiovascular Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut 06520-8088, USA.
• J. Am. Coll. Cardiol. 2006 Apr 18; 47 (8): 1544-52.

ObjectivesThe aim of this study was to determine the use of pre-hospital electrocardiogram (ECG) in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) undergoing reperfusion therapy, and evaluate the effect of pre-hospital ECG on door-to-reperfusion times.BackgroundAlthough national guidelines recommend the use of pre-hospital ECG, there is limited contemporary information about its current use and effectiveness.MethodsUsing data from the National Registry of Myocardial Infarction-4, we studied patients with STEMI or left bundle branch block who received acute reperfusion with either fibrinolytic therapy (n = 35,370) or primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) (n = 21,277) within 6 h of admission. We determined the prevalence of pre-hospital ECG use, evaluated the association between pre-hospital ECG and door-to-reperfusion time, and estimated the incremental reduction in time to reperfusion using hierarchical models to adjust for differences in patient and hospital characteristics.ResultsA pre-hospital ECG was performed in 4.5% of the fibrinolytic therapy cohort and in 8.0% of the PCI cohort. After adjusting for patient and hospital characteristics, the use of pre-hospital ECG was associated with a significantly shorter geometric mean door-to-drug time: 24.6 min (95% confidence interval [CI]: 23.7 to 25.5) vs. 34.7 min (95% CI: 34.2 to 35.3; p < 0.0001), and a significantly shorter geometric mean door-to-balloon time (94.0 min [95% CI: 91.8 to 96.3] vs. 110.3 min [95% CI: 108.7 to 112.0]; p < 0.0001).ConclusionsThe national use of pre-hospital ECG to diagnose and facilitate the treatment of STEMI remains low. When used, however, pre-hospital ECG is associated with a significantly shorter time to reperfusion.

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