Clinical Characteristics and Outcomes of Acute ST-Segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction in Younger Korean Adults

The long-term prognostic value of E/e' in patients with ST segment elevation myocardial infarction

Objectives

This study aimed to evaluate the long-term prognostic value of E/e’ ratio in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI).

Methods

We retrospectively assessed 314 patients who underwent primary coronary interventions between January 2010 and December 2015. The included patients were classified into two groups according to the E/e’ ratios: E/e’<15 (n = 245) and E/e’≥15 (n = 69). We investigated the incidence of major adverse cardiac events (MACEs) from the event to the final follow-up period of at least three years.

Results

A total of 55 cases of MACEs occurred during the follow-up. The E/e’≥15 group showed a significantly higher rate of MACEs than the E/e’<15 group (34.8% vs. 12.7%, p < 0.001). Among the MACE, the percentage of cardiac deaths (17.4% vs. 0.4%, p < 0.001) was higher in the E/e’≥15 group than in the E/e’<15 group. In the multivariable model, E/e’≥15 was demonstrated as the strongest prognostic factor for MACEs (hazard ratio [HR], 2.597; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.294–5.211; p = 0.007) and cardiac death (HR, 27.537; 95% CI, 3.287–230.689; p = 0.002), while left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) was not. Neither the discrepancy of systolic nor diastolic function between initial and follow-up echocardiography affected the overall prevalence of MACEs. A disparity was observed between the two groups, with a significant increase in the rate of MACEs in the E/e’≥15 group (log-rank test, p < 0.001).

Conclusion

The baseline E/e’≥15 in patients with STEMI after successful reperfusion is the strongest predictor of poor long-term clinical outcomes among those analyzed.

Comparing the Timeliness of Treatment in Younger vs. Older Patients with ST-Segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction: A Multi-Center Cohort Study

BACKGROUND

ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) predominantly affects older adults. Lower incidence among younger patients may challenge diagnosis.

OBJECTIVES

We hypothesize that among patients ≤ 50 years old, emergent percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) for STEMI is delayed when compared with patients aged > 50 years.

METHODS

This 3-year, 10-center retrospective cohort study included emergency department (ED) STEMI patients ≥ 18 years of age treated with emergent PCI. We excluded patients with an electrocardiogram (ECG) completed prior to ED arrival or a nondiagnostic initial ECG. Our primary outcome was door-to-balloon (D2B) time. We compared characteristics and outcomes among younger vs. older STEMI patients, and among age subgroups.

RESULTS

There were 576 ED STEMI PCI patients, of whom 100 were ≤ 50 years old and 476 were > 50 years old. Median age was 44 years in the younger cohort (interquartile range [IQR] 41-47) vs. 62 years (IQR 57-70) among older patients. Median D2B time for the younger cohort was 76.5 min (IQR 67.5-102.5) vs. 81.0 min (IQR 65.0-105.5) in the older cohort (p = 0.91). This outcome did not change when ages 40 or 45 years were used to demarcate younger vs. older. The younger cohort had a higher prevalence of nonwhite races (38% vs. 21%; p < 0.001) and those currently smoking (36% vs. 23%; p = 0.005). The very young (≤30 years; 6/576) and very old (>80 years; 45/576) had 5.51 and 2.2 greater odds of delays.

CONCLUSION

We found no statistically significant difference in D2B times between patients ≤ 50 years old and those > 50 years old. Nonwhite patients and those who smoke were disproportionately represented within the younger population. The very young and very old had higher odds of D2B times > 90 min.

The fate of unrepaired chronic type A aortic dissection

OBJECTIVES

The current guidelines do not consider chronic type A aortic dissection as one of the triggers for prophylactic aortic repair, and an aortic diameter of 55 mm is considered the threshold for surgery.

METHODS

From the institutional database, we retrieved 82 patients who were diagnosed as having chronic type A aortic dissection but did not undergo immediate surgical repair from 1997 to 2016. The primary outcome was a composite of adverse aortic events defined as aortic rupture and sudden death. Conversion to elective surgery during follow-up was regarded as competing risk for adverse events.

RESULTS

The median value of the maximal aortic diameter at baseline was 55.2 mm. During a median follow-up of 77.1 months, 19 adverse events occurred while 9 patients received elective aortic repair. On multivariable competing risk analyses, baseline aortic diameter and age emerged as significant and independent factors associated with aortic events. The estimated rates of aortic event within 5 years were 12.0%, 19.4%, and 29.7% for aortic diameters of 50, 60, and 70 mm, respectively, with escalating risk rates as age increased for the given aortic diameters.

CONCLUSIONS

In unrepaired chronic type A aortic dissection, aortic events were not infrequent even for patients with an aortic diameter of less than 55 mm. This finding indicates that there may be a need to lower the surgical threshold for chronic type A aortic dissection.

Smoking is the dominating modifiable risk factor in younger patients with STEMI

AIMS

Smoking is an important modifiable risk factor for myocardial infarction. It is unclear whether smoking habits at the time of an incident ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) differ across age groups and sex.

METHODS AND RESULTS

We included patients with incident STEMI registered in the Western Denmark Heart Registry from 2005 to 2015 (n=9914). Patients were divided into four age groups (30-49, 50-59, 60-69 and ⩾70 years) with the latter serving as reference. Smoking was the most prevalent modifiable risk factor in 30-49-year-old patients (74% vs. hypertension 15%, hyperlipidaemia 10% and diabetes 7%). The smoking prevalence decreased with increasing age, while treatment for hypertension, hyperlipidaemia and diabetes increased with increasing age. Smoking was five times (odds ratio (OR) 5.15; 95% confidence interval (CI) 4.37-6.07) more prevalent among 30-49-year-old patients with STEMI than the reference group. Differences according to sex were significant as the OR for current smoking in women was 9.88 (95% CI 6.94-14.08) compared to OR 3.78 (95% CI 3.12-4.58) in men.

CONCLUSIONS

Despite public information campaigns and general warnings, smoking remains the most prevalent modifiable risk factor in younger patients with STEMI.

Triglyceride to high density lipoprotein cholesterol ratio may serve as a useful predictor of major adverse coronary event in female revascularized ST-elevation myocardial infarction

BACKGROUND

Elevated triglyceride to high density lipoprotein cholesterol (TG/HDL-C) ratio has been identified as a surrogate marker of insulin resistance and an independent predictor for cardiovascular events in the general population. However, the prognostic value of TG/HDL-C ratio in revascularized ST-elevation myocardial infarction(STEMI) patients remains unclear. We examined the association between TG/HDL-C ratio and clinical outcome of revascularized STEMI patients in the Chinese population.

METHODS

464 STEMI patients who underwent successful revascularization were enrolled to determine the relationship between TG/HDL-C ratio and major adverse coronary events(MACEs) with a 30-month follow-up. The Kaplan-Meier analysis and Cox regression proportional hazard model were applied to assess the prognostic value of TG/HDL-C ratio.

RESULTS

TG/HDL-C ratio was found to be significantly associated with age (p = 0.017), history of diabetes(p = 0.017), heart rate(p = 0.011), TG(p < 0.001), HDL-C(p < 0.001) and Gensini score(p = 0.034). The multivariate Cox regression analysis revealed that elevated TG/HDL-C ratio was an independent prognostic factor for MACE in female patients (HR = 2.624,95%CI = 1.211-5.687,p = 0.014) but not in male patients(HR = 0.756, 95%CI = 0.484-1.179,p = NS) after adjustment with other MACE-related prognostic factors.

CONCLUSION

The TG/HDL-C ratio may be independently associated with MACEs in female revascularized STEMI patients in the Chinese population.

Influence of obesity and metabolic syndrome on clinical outcomes of ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction in men undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention

BACKGROUND

The correlation between obesity and metabolic syndrome (MetS) and its impact on cardiovascular disease remains unclear. This study aims to investigate the impact of metabolic status and obesity on clinical outcomes of male patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI).

METHODS

Data from the Korea Acute Myocardial Infarction Registry-National Institutes of Health registry were used to evaluate the impact of obesity and MetS on patients undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PPCI) from November 2005 to November 2015. Patients were grouped according to the presence or absence of obesity and MetS ('obese-/MetS-', 'obese-/MetS+', 'obese+/MetS-', or 'obese+/MetS+', respectively). All-cause death and major adverse cardiac events (MACE) were recorded during 12 months of follow-up.

RESULTS

A total of 14,357 patients were included. Multivariate analysis showed that the presence of MetS was an independent risk factor for all-cause death (HR 2.08, 95% CI 1.30-3.31, p=0.002) and cardiovascular death (HR 2.44, 95% CI 1.33-4.46, p=0.004) at 12 months among normal weight patients. The protective effect of obesity was observed, compared with the obese-/MetS+ group, in terms of all-cause death (HR 0.50, 95% CI 0.31-0.81, p=0.005) and cardiovascular death (HR 0.52, 95% CI 0.28-0.96, p=0.038; vs. total obese individuals), but it might have disappeared compared with the obese-/MetS- group. The rate of MACE did not differ significantly according to category by obesity and MetS.

CONCLUSIONS

The obesity paradox has not been observed between obese and normal weight patients without MetS. Risk stratification on the basis of the presence or absence of MetS is not a clinically useful indicator of outcome in obese male patients with STEMI after PPCI.

Plasma Metabolic Profile Determination in Young ST-segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction Patients with Ischemia and Reperfusion: Ultra-performance Liquid Chromatography and Mass Spectrometry for Pathway Analysis

Background:

This study was to establish a disease differentiation model for ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) youth patients experiencing ischemia and reperfusion via ultra-performance liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry (UPLC/MS) platform, which searches for closely related characteristic metabolites and metabolic pathways to evaluate their predictive value in the prognosis after discharge.

Methods:

Forty-seven consecutive STEMI patients (23 patients under 45 years of age, referred to here as “youth,” and 24 “elderly” patients) and 48 healthy control group members (24 youth, 24 elderly) were registered prospectively. The youth patients were required to provide a second blood draw during a follow-up visit one year after morbidity (n = 22, one lost). Characteristic metabolites and relative metabolic pathways were screened via UPLC/MS platform base on the Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes (KEGG) and Human Metabolome Database. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were drawn to evaluate the predictive value of characteristic metabolites in the prognosis after discharge.

Results:

We successfully established an orthogonal partial least squares discriminated analysis model (R₂X = 71.2%, R₂Y = 79.6%, and Q₂ = 55.9%) and screened out 24 ions; the sphingolipid metabolism pathway showed the most drastic change. The ROC curve analysis showed that ceramide [Cer(d18:0/16:0), Cer(t18:0/12:0)] and sphinganine in the sphingolipid pathway have high sensitivity and specificity on the prognosis related to major adverse cardiovascular events after youth patients were discharged. The area under curve (AUC) was 0.671, 0.750, and 0.711, respectively. A follow-up validation one year after morbidity showed corresponding AUC of 0.778, 0.833, and 0.806.

Conclusions:

By analyzing the plasma metabolism of myocardial infarction patients, we successfully established a model that can distinguish two different factors simultaneously: pathological conditions and age. Sphingolipid metabolism is the top most altered pathway in young STEMI patients and as such may represent a valuable prognostic factor and potential therapeutic target.

Relationship of serum uric acid and Killip class on mortality after acute ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction and primary percutaneous coronary intervention

BACKGROUND

There is conflicting information regarding the association between hyperuricemia and survival in STEMI patients. Our study examined the interaction between hyperuricemia and Killip class on mortality of STEMI patients.

METHODS

We analyzed 951 consecutive STEMI patients between February 2006 and September 2012. Hyperuricemia was defined as SUA of at least 7mg/dL in males and 6mg/dL in females. Killip class I patients were divided into hyperuricemia and normouricemia groups.

RESULTS

The Killip class I hyperuricemia and normouricemia groups had similar baseline and procedural characteristics, but the hyperuricemia group had significantly greater BMI, serum creatinine, and SUA, and a lower TIMI risk score (2, IQR: 1-4 vs. 3, IQR: 2-4, p=0.019). The hyperuricemia group also had greater 30-day and 1-year mortality rates (2.9% vs. 0.3%, p=0.022; 6.5% vs. 1.1%, p=0.002, respectively). However, hyperuricemia was not associated with mortality of patients in Killip classes II-IV or in the overall study population. Hyperuricemia was associated with increased mortality in subgroups of patients who were at least 65years-old, male, had BMI of 25kg/m² or less, were in Killip class I, without diabetes, and who did not receive intra-aortic balloon pump support. Hyperuricemia interacted with Killip class I in increasing the risk for 1-year mortality (p for interaction=0.038).

CONCLUSIONS

Hyperuricemia increased the 1-year mortality of STEMI patients in Killip class I, but not of patients in Killip classes II-IV. An interaction of hyperuricemia and Killip class significantly affects the mortality of STEMI patients.

Gender differences in risk factors and clinical outcomes in young patients with acute myocardial infarction

BACKGROUND

There are limited data on the influence of gender on risk factors and clinical outcomes in young patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI).

METHODS

This prospective study stratified outcomes according to gender in patients of age ≤50 years with a diagnosis of AMI, and who were enrolled in the nationwide registry of the Korea Working Group of Myocardial Infarction. The end point was the incidence of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACEs) defined as the composite of cardiac death, recurrent myocardial infarction (MI), and repeat revascularisation at 30 days and 1 year after admission.

RESULTS

The registry enrolled 30 001 patients with AMI, of whom 5200 met the study inclusion criteria; 4805 patients were male and 395 were female. Current smoking was significantly higher in men, while hypertension and diabetes mellitus were significantly more common in women. Women underwent less coronary revascularisation, and were less likely to be on optimal medical therapy compared with men despite having a higher Killip class at presentation and higher risk angiographic findings. Although women had higher rates of MACEs (3.8% vs 1.8%, p=0.018 at 30 days and 7.8% vs 4.7%, p=0.004 at 1-year follow-up) compared with men, female gender was not an independent predictor of MACEs after adjusting for propensity score.

CONCLUSIONS

There were significant gender differences in the risk factors for coronary artery disease and the short-term and long-term clinical outcomes of young patients with AMI. Continued preventive strategies should be focused on gender-different risk factor reduction in these young patients.