Prognosis of cardiovascular and non-cardiovascular multimorbidity after acute coronary syndrome

ObjectiveTo examine the prognosis of patients with cardiovascular and non-cardiovascular multimorbidity after acute coronary syndrome compared to patients without prior multimorbidity.MethodsThis multicenter prospective cohort study in Switzerland included 5,635 patients hospitalized with acute coronary syndrome between 2009 and 2014, with a one-year follow-up period. We defined cardiovascular and non-cardiovascular multimorbidity as having at least two prior comorbidities before the index hospitalization. Multivariable adjusted Cox proportional models were built to assess the one-year risk of recurrent cardiovascular events, defined as cardiovascular mortality and non-fatal myocardial infarction or stroke. The final model was adjusted for age, gender, body mass index, tobacco consumption, education, and family history of cardiovascular disease, prescription of high-dose statinsat discharge and use of cardiac rehabilitation after discharge.ResultsOverall, 3,664 patients (65%) had no multimorbidity, 1,839 (33%) had cardiovascular multimorbidity, 62 (1%) had non-cardiovascular multimorbidity, and 70 (1%) had both cardiovascular and non-cardiovascular multimorbidity. The multivariate risk of recurrent cardiovascular events was increased among patients with cardiovascular multimorbidity (hazard ratio (HR) 2.05, 95% CI: 1.54–2.73, pConclusionsMultimorbidity increased by two-fold the risk of cardiovascular events over the year after an acute coronary syndrome. The magnitude of this increased risk was similar for patients with cardiovascular or non-cardiovascular multimorbidity.