Thirty‐day mortality among patients admitted due to acute myocardial infarction during the dates of the Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand Annual Scientific Meeting

Patients admitted during major medical conferences may receive different care if there are significant staff shortages. We evaluated the mortality of patients presenting with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) according to whether they were admitted during the Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand (CSANZ) Annual Scientific Meeting (ASM). Admissions during meeting days were compared to matching non-meeting days within 4 weeks before or after the conference. Among 24 761 patients, those admitted during the CSANZ ASM had the same age, sex and comorbidities compared to controls but had higher 30-day mortality after multivariable adjustment (OR: 1.18, 95% CI: 1.02-1.37). These findings raise concern that care delivery during major conference periods may be affected, although the mechanism could not be determined from these data.