Less than one in ten eligible older adults receive implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) within a year after myocardial infarction, according to a retrospective, observational study in JAMA.The study included more than 10,000 Medicare beneficiaries who had ejection fractions of 35% or lower after MI. The patients were treated at nearly 450 U.S. hospitals from 2007 to 2010; those with previous ICD implantation were excluded.
Only 8% of patients had received ICDs within the first year after hospital discharge — and these patients had lower 2-year mortality rates than those without ICDs (15.3 vs. 26.4 events per 100 patient-years).
