Risk of delayed percutaneous coronary intervention for STEMI in the Southeast United States.

Background: While percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) reperfusion within 90 minutes of first medical contact (FMC) is indicated for ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), long transport times in rural areas can make this unlikely. We sought to quantify Southeast US residents at risk of treatment delay due to transport.

Methods: A cross-sectional study of Southeast US residents was conducted using American Community Survey data and geographic information systems (GIS) to estimate emergency medical services (EMS) transport times to primary PCI (PPCI) centers. All PPCI centers in the study area were included, as well as centers in surrounding states. The main outcomes were the number of residents residing more than 30 and 60 minutes from PPCI. These cutoffs are based on national median EMS scene times and door-to-device times and correspond to estimated FMC-to-device times of 90 and 120 minutes, respectively. A secondary outcome was identification of counties with greater than 50% and 90% of their population at risk of treatment delay.

Results: Of 62,880,528 residents in the study area, we identified nearly 11 million at risk of delayed PCI (17.3%, 10,866,710 ± 58,143). Of those, 1,271,522 (± 51,858) live greater than 60 minutes from PPCI. We found that 8.4% (52/616) of counties have more than 50% of their population at risk of treatment delay. 42.3% (22/52) of those have more than 90% of at risk.

Conclusions: Nearly 11 million people in the Southeast US do not have timely access to PCI. This disparity may contribute to increased morbidity and mortality.