Hospitalized Heart Attacks
Lower rates are desirable.
(Total number of new AMI events for persons age 18 and older ÷ Total mid-year population age 18 and older) × 100,000 (Age-adjusted)
Unit of Analysis: Single admission
Total mid-year population age 18 and older
Cases that are new AMI events admitted to an acute care hospital, age 18 and older.
A new event is defined as a first-ever hospitalization for an AMI or a recurrent hospitalized AMI occurring more than 28 days after the admission for the previous event in the reference period.
Methodology
Name
Hospitalized Heart Attacks
Short/Other Names
Hospitalized Acute Myocardial Infarction Event
Description
This indicator measures the age-standardized rate of new acute myocardial infarction (AMI) events admitted to an acute care hospital for the population age 18 and older.
A new event is defined as a first-ever hospitalization for an AMI or a recurrent hospitalized AMI occurring more than 28 days after the admission for the previous event in the reference period.
For further details, please see the General Methodology Notes (PDF).
Rationale
AMI is one of the leading causes of morbidity and death. Measuring its occurrence in the population is important for planning and evaluating preventive strategies, allocating health resources and estimating costs. From a disease surveillance perspective, there are three groups of AMI events: non-diagnosed events, fatal events occurring outside the hospital and events admitted to acute care hospitals. Although AMIs admitted to a hospital do not reflect all AMIs in the community, this information provides a useful and timely estimate of the disease occurrence in the population.
Interpretation
Lower rates are desirable.
HSP Framework Dimension
Health system outcomes: Improve health status of Canadians
Areas of Need
Not applicable
Targets/Benchmarks
Not applicable
Available Data Years
to (fiscal years)
Geographic Coverage
- All provinces/territories
Reporting Level/Disaggregation
- National
- Province/Territory
- Region
- Neighbourhood Income Quintile
Indicator Results
Update Frequency
Every year
Latest Results Update Date
Updates
Not applicable
Description
(Total number of new AMI events for persons age 18 and older ÷ Total mid-year population age 18 and older) × 100,000 (Age-adjusted)
Unit of Analysis: Single admission
Type of Measurement
Rate - per 100,000
Denominator
Description:
Total mid-year population age 18 and older
Numerator
Description:
Cases that are new AMI events admitted to an acute care hospital, age 18 and older.
A new event is defined as a first-ever hospitalization for an AMI or a recurrent hospitalized AMI occurring more than 28 days after the admission for the previous event in the reference period.
Inclusions:
- AMI present on admission — ICD-10-CA: I21, I22 coded as diagnosis type (1) [type (C) for Quebec data only] or [type (M), (W), (X) or (Y), but not also as a diagnosis type (2)]
- Age at admission 18 years and older
- Sex recorded as male or female
- Admission to an acute care institution (Facility Type Code = 1)
Exclusions:
- Records with an invalid health card number
- Records with an invalid code for province issuing health card number
- Records with an invalid admission date
- Cadaveric donor or stillbirth records (Admission Category Code = R or S)
- AMI admissions within 28 days after the admission date of a previous AMI hospitalization
- Patients with medical assistance in dying (MAID) (Discharge Disposition Code = 73)
Method of Adjustment
Direct standardization
Standard Population:
Canada 2011
Adjustment Applied
Age-adjusted
Geographic Assignment
Place of residence
Data Sources
- DAD
- HMDB
Caveats and Limitations
Not applicable
Trending Issues
Not applicable
References
Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada. The Growing Burden of Heart Disease and Stroke in Canada 2003. Available at http://publications.gc.ca/collections/Collection/H1-10-2003E.pdf. Accessed August 24, 2024.
Manuel DG, Lim JJY, Tanuseputro P, et al. How many people have had a myocardial infarction? Prevalence estimated using historical hospital data. BMC Public Health. 2007; 7:174.
How to cite:
Canadian Institute for Health Information. Hospitalized Heart Attacks . Accessed April 25, 2025.
If you would like CIHI information in a different format, visit our Accessibility page.
Comments
This indicator includes all new hospitalized AMI events in the reference period, encompassing first-ever and recurrent AMIs. A person may have more than one AMI event in the reference period. AMI events not admitted to an acute care hospital and in-hospital AMIs are not included in this indicator.
Myocardial infarction is labelled as acute with a stated duration of four weeks (28 days) or less in ICD-10-CA and eight weeks or less in ICD-9/9-CM. Therefore, a 28-day period to define a new AMI event is applicable to the records coded in ICD-10-CA only.
Indicator results are also available on