BACKGROUND: Arterial hypertension is a major risk factor for cardiovascular events. The prognosis for hypertensive patients after acute myocardial infarction (MI) is uncertain because of the sparse and somewhat contradictionary data. HYPOTHESIS: Our study aimed to investigate the importance of hypertension to prognosis after an MI in patients receiving contemporary medical therapy. METHODS: We performed a retrospective study using a large register from the Bucindolol Evaluation in Acute myocardial infarction Trial (BEAT). The register comprised 3,326 patients admitted between June 1998 and August 1999 with an enzyme-verified MI to 33 Danish coronary care units. Hypertension was considered present when a previous diagnosis of hypertension was accompanied by relevant medical therapy. Survival information for all patients was obtained in January 2002. RESULTS: Of the 3,326 patients studied, 825 were hypertensive. Overall, 28.4% had died by January 2002. The unadjusted hazard ratio associated with hypertension was 1.2 (95% confidence limit [CI] 1.1-1.4, p = 0.004). Hypertensive patients were older, and after adjustment for age the hazard ratio associated with hypertension was 1.04 (CI 0.9-1.2, p = 0.6). Adjustment for further covariates did not change the result. CONCLUSION: Our study showed that after an acute MI the survival rate of patients with and without a history of hypertension was identical when they received contemporary medical therapy.