Elevated Cardiac Troponin Levels in Geriatric Patients Without ACS: Role of Comorbidities

• Published in: CJC open (Online) 2021-03, Vol.3 (3), p.248-255
• Main Authors: Sedighi, Seyed Mahdi, Fulop, Tamas, Mohammadpour, Adel, Nguyen, Michel, Prud’Homme, Patrick, Khalil, Abdelouahed
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Original
• ISSN: 2589-790X; 2589-790X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.cjco.2020.07.017

Elevated levels of cardiac troponin T as measured by a high-sensitivity test (hscTnT) are common in geriatric patients with a large spectrum of comorbidities but without acute coronary syndrome (ACS). However, the relative contribution of individual comorbidities has never been clearly addressed. This study aimed to determine the relationship between hscTnT elevation as a response variable and individual comorbidities, and to estimate the impact of individual comorbidities on hscTnT elevation in geriatric patients free of ACS. A nonexperimental, retrospective, matched, longitudinal cohort study was designed to evaluate the files of 7062 geriatric patients (aged ≥ 65 years) without ACS. The hscTnT levels of the patients have already been measured in all evaluated medical records. The dataset was split into 2 groups (0 and 1) based on the individual comorbidity (0 and 1) and hscTnT levels (≤ 14 ng/L = 0 and > 14 ng/L = 1). Our results show that although age was positively and significantly correlated with hscTnT (r = 0.17, P < 0.0001), the likelihood of experiencing elevated hscTnT levels in older individuals after having excluded ACS was related to the presence of comorbidities independently of their number (P < 0.0001). The regression coefficients (β) associated with renal insufficiency (0.71), cardiomyopathy (0.63), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (0.30), diabetes (0.25), and anemia (0.22) indicated that there exists a significant association between these comorbidities and the elevated hscTnT levels (P < 0.001). The receiver operating characteristic curve for predictive modeling was estimated at 71% (P < 0.0001). Elevated hscTnT levels were mostly associated with renal insufficiency, cardiac myopathies, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetes, and anemia in geriatric patients without ACS. Developing guidelines to accurately evaluate hscTnT elevation in geriatric patients with comorbidities, without ACS, is clinically essential. Il arrive fréquemment que les patients âgés présentant un grand éventail d’affections concomitantes, mais pas de syndrome coronarien aigu (SCA), aient un taux élevé de troponine T cardiaque mesuré par un test de haute sensibilité (TnTc-hs). La contribution relative des différentes affections concomitantes prises individuellement n’a toutefois jamais été clairement évaluée. Cette étude a tenté de déterminer la relation entre l’élévation du taux de TnTc-hs en tant que variable réponse et différentes affections concomit