Effect on Outcome of an Increase of Serum Cardiac Troponin T in Patients With Healing or Healed ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction

• Published in: The American journal of cardiology 2007-12, Vol.100 (12), p.1723-1726
• Main Authors: Shimizu, Masahiko, MD, Sato, Hiroshi, MD, PhD, Sakata, Yasuhiko, MD, PhD, Nakatani, Daisaku, MD, PhD, Mizuno, Hiroya, MD, PhD, Suna, Shinichiro, MD, Fujii, Kenshi, MD, PhD, Ueda, Yasunori, MD, PhD, Nanto, Shinsuke, MD, PhD, Hori, Masatsugu, MD, PhD
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aged; Biological and medical sciences; Blood; Cardiology; Cardiology. Vascular system; Cardiovascular; Clinical outcomes; Female; Heart; Heart attacks; Humans; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Multivariate Analysis; Myocardial Infarction - blood; Myocardial Infarction - mortality; Prognosis; Prospective Studies; Survival Analysis; Troponin T - blood
• ISSN: 0002-9149; 1879-1913
• DOI: 10.1016/j.amjcard.2007.07.024

Recently, an association between minimally elevated cardiac troponin levels and cardiovascular risk in the general population has been reported. However, the prevalence and clinical importance of elevated cardiac troponin T (cTnT) levels remain unclear in patients with histories of myocardial infarction (MI). In this study, 1,807 consecutive patients with ST-segment elevation MIs were prospectively studied (77.1% men; mean age 64.4 years). Venous blood samples were obtained in the chronic stage of MI (28 ± 7 days after onset), and serum cTnT levels were determined. During the average follow-up of 1,042 days, 84 patients died and 83 had nonfatal reinfarctions. Patients with cTnT levels in the highest quartile (≥0.040 ng/ml [n = 353]) had a higher incidence of all-cause death (8.2% vs 5.2%, p = 0.049) and nonfatal reinfarction (8.3% vs 5.1%, p = 0.048) than patients with cTnT levels from the lower 3 quartiles (