Comparisons of Patients Living Alone versus Living with Others in Acute Coronary Syndrome

Abstract

We aimed to examine the relationship of living arrangements (i.e., living alone or living with others) with background, clinical severity, preintervention culprit lesion plaque morphology, and clinical outcomes in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS).Among 1,683 consecutive patients with ACS, we retrospectively compared patients living alone (n = 318) versus living with others (n = 1,362). Optical coherence tomography (OCT) findings, which are high-resolution intracoronary imaging devices, were analyzed in patients with preintervention OCT and compared between patients living alone (n = 174) versus those living with others (n = 665).Older (median; 69 vs. 67 y, p = 0.046) and female (31 vs. 17%, p < 0.001) patients more frequently lived alone. Frequency of achieving a time interval of 6 hours or less from ACS onset to admission was lower in patients living alone (56 vs. 63%, p = 0.022). Clinical presentation was more severe in patients living alone (Killip II/III/IV; 27 vs. 22%, p = 0.029). Plaque morphology evaluated by OCT was similar between groups (plaque rapture; 48 vs. 48%, p = 0.171). Kaplan–Meier analyses revealed higher rates of cardiac mortality during 2-year follow-up period in patients living alone [13.9 vs. 8.5%, hazard ratio (HR) 1.604, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.112–2.313, p = 0.010]. After traditional cardiovascular risk factors and clinical severity upon admission had been adjusted, living alone was an independent predictor of cardiac mortality in ACS patients (HR 1.582, 95% CI 1.056–2.371, p = 0.026).Living alone was independently associated with 2-year cardiac mortality in ACS patients after adjusting for background and presentation and might be unrelated to the development of atherosclerosis.