Prevalence of LVEF Non-recovery After Acute Myocardial Infarction

This is a prospective observational study of consecutive patients presenting with STEMI to the Prince of Wales Hospital over a 12-month period. All patients will receive standard of care including reperfusion and GDMT irrespective of study enrolment. Patient will be followed for 9 months after enrolled in this study. Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) using a hand-held ultrasound (Vscan, GE Healthcare) will be performed to assess baseline LVEF within 48 hours of admission. Patients with baseline moderate-to-severe LV dysfunction by visual POCUS assessment (i.e. LVEF <40%) will be recruited for follow-up LVEF assessment at 3 months. Patients with persistent LVEF <40% by POCUS will undergo formal echocardiography to confirm LVEF by either 2D area (Simpson's rule) and 3D volumetric measurements. In 9 month visit, patient's clinical data will be collected and no echo is needed during this visit.

Categorical variables were presented in frequency tables and were compared using the Pearson Chi square test if all cell sizes were more than 5, or Fisher exact test if otherwise. Parametric and nonparametric continuous variables were expressed as mean ± SD and median (interquartile range) and were compared using the Student t test and Mann-Whitney U test, respectively. P<0.05 was considered statistically significant. All statistical analyses were performed using SPSS version 24.0