Table 1. Baseline population characteristics and culprit coronary artery among patients admitted with ST-elevation myocardial infarction with or without long-term (current) systemic steroid use.
**Statistically significant p-value <0.05.
LTCSS: Long-term (current) systemic steroid; STEMI: ST-elevation myocardial infarction; Composite Mechanical Complications: Post-myocardial infarction (MI) ventricular free wall rupture, post-MI ventricular septal defect, post-MI papillary muscle rupture, post-MI hemopericardium, and post-MI left ventricular apical aneurysm; PEM: Protein-energy malnutrition; CKD: Chronic kidney disease; COPD: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; IBD: Inflammatory bowel disease; ILD: Interstitial lung disease.
| Baseline characteristics | STEMI without LTCSS use (n= 602,900) | STEMI with LTCSS use (n = 5,310) | P-value ** | |
| Demography and hospital-level characteristics | ||||
| Age/years | 64 | 68 | <0.001 | |
| Sex (Male) | 68.48% | 58.47% | <0.001 | |
| Race | <0.001 | |||
| White | 74.48% | 81.63% | ||
| Black | 9.43% | 7.97% | ||
| Hispanic | 8.84% | 5.73% | ||
| Asian/pacific islander | 3.02% | 1.65% | ||
| Native American | 0.58% | 0.39% | ||
| Other | 3.64% | 2.62% | ||
| Charlson comorbidity index | <0.001 | |||
| 0-1 | 28.00% | 11.49% | ||
| 2 | 29.16% | 25.24% | ||
| 3 or more | 42.84% | 63.28% | ||
| Expected primary payer | <0.001 | |||
| Medicare | 49.11% | 66.28% | ||
| Medicaid | 11.16% | 6.99% | ||
| Private insurance | 32.91% | 23.28% | ||
| Self-pay and others | 6.82% | 3.45% | ||
| Hospital bed size | 0.115 | |||
| Small | 17.12% | 17.80% | ||
| Medium | 29.60% | 31.11% | ||
| Large | 53.28% | 50.09% | ||
| Hospital location and teaching status | 0.373 | |||
| Rural | 6.53% | 7.63% | ||
| Urban non-teaching | 18.41% | 18.08% | ||
| Urban teaching | 75.06% | 74.29% | ||
| Patient comorbidities | ||||
| Alcohol use disorder | 3.6% | 2.07% | 0.007 | |
| Coronary artery disease | 12.21% | 9.51% | 0.007 | |
| Heart failure | 7.60% | 8.29% | 0.407 | |
| Stroke history | 0.63% | 0.38% | 0.298 | |
| Diabetes Mellitus | 34.08% | 33.05% | 0.482 | |
| Hypertension | 42.28% | 39.83% | 0.104 | |
| CKD | 15.62% | 19.87% | <0.001 | |
| Hypothyroidism | 9.31% | 15.25% | <0.001 | |
| Obesity | 18.39% | 17.23% | 0.330 | |
| PEM | 3.36% | 3.86% | 0.390 | |
| COPD | 10.52% | 21.85% | <0.001 | |
| Asthma | 3.51% | 6.97% | <0.001 | |
| Lymphoid and myeloid malignancy | 0.87% | 1.51% | 0.027 | |
| ILD | 0.17% | 0.94% | <0.001 | |
| IBD | 0.96% | 2.64% | <0.001 | |
| Sarcoidosis | 0.16% | 1.41% | <0.001 | |
| HIV | 2.59% | 1.88% | 0.150 | |
| Rheumatologic disorder | 1.94% | 29.47% | <0.001 | |
| Culprit coronary vessel | ||||
| Left main coronary artery | 1.43% | 1.68% | 0.924 | |
| Left anterior descending artery | 46.51% | 40.76% | 0.139 | |
| Left circumflex artery | 9.46% | 9.24% | 0.782 | |
| Right coronary artery | 42.60% | 48.42% | 0.214 | |