Patients admitted with AMI more likely to die during cardiologist conferences: Aussie research
Patients admitted to hospital with AMI during Australia’s largest annual cardiology conference face an 18% higher 30-day mortality rate, research suggests.
The brief report in Internal Medicine Journal compared NSW hospital admissions for AMI during the Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand (CSANZ) Annual Scientific Meeting with admissions four weeks either side of the conference.
Almost 25,000 patients admitted between 2003 and 2021 were included, including 2809 admitted on CSANZ conference days.
During the conference, which draws more than 2500 attendees, 11% of patients died within 30 days of admission, compared with 9.7% of the control patients.
After adjusting for age, sex, treatment factors and comorbidities, patients admitted during conference days had 18% higher odds of dying within 30 days, said the authors from Concord Hospital’s cardiology department.
Results were similar when excluding the admitting hospital’s percutaneous coronary intervention capability.
Secondary analysis excluding the first 30 days after admission found no difference in mortality between the groups, and no significant difference at six months.
The authors said it was well known that hospitals operate with skeleton staff during major conferences, but stressed their study could not prove a causal link between this and patient mortality.
Neither could it weigh up the long-term benefits of scientific meetings on patient outcomes, they said.
“Nevertheless, the findings do cause some concern that the decreased staffing during the CSANZ Annual Scientific Meeting may delay some critical treatments or that the absence of leaders in cardiology may reduce the application of optimal evidence-based management strategies,” they wrote.
“Greater transparency of attendance and the drain from certain hospitals may be the first step to exploring whether the spike in mortality can be addressed.”
More information: Intern Med J 2026; 26 Jun.
