Syntax Score and Major Adverse Cardiac Events in Patients with Suspected Coronary Artery Disease: Results from a Cohort Study in a University-Affiliated Hospital in Southern Brazil

Association between parities and duration of breastfeeding and the severity of coronary artery disease in women above 30 years old age (A pilot study)

Background

The prevalence and mortality of CVD in women increase over time. We conducted this research to evaluate the severity of coronary artery disease with the number of live births and breastfeeding duration.

Methods

Patients aged 30-50 years old with positive exercise tests or evidence of cardiac ischemia who were candidates for coronary angiography were included. All the participants had at least one child. Syntax score was used to evaluate the severity of coronary arteries.

Results

Mean number of children was 3.72±1.85, in those patients with <2 live births no one had a syntax score≥1, but in the>5 live births group most patients had a syntax score≥1. In patients with zero syntax score, it was estimated as 4.91±39.7; in patients with 1≤ syntax score, it was 4.48±7.29 (P =0.76). Among patients with > 5 birth lives, those with higher syntax scores had older ages (P=0.497). After adjusting age, the association between live births and syntax score became non-significant (P=0.850).

Conclusion

By increasing the number of live births >5, the severity of coronary artery disease, increases. However, this association was not significant after adjusting the age of patients.

The association between SYNTAX score and long-term outcomes in patients with unstable angina pectoris: a single-centre retrospective study

BACKGROUND

The SYNTAX score affects clinical outcomes in early studies. However, the prognostic value of the SYNTAX Score for long-term outcomes and differences by SYNTAX score risk stratification in long-term prognosis between medical therapy and percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in patients with unstable angina pectoris (UAP) are not well known in the era of new generation drug-eluting stents and medication.

METHODS

In this single-centre retrospective study, a total of 2364 patients with UAP from January 2014 to June 2017 at Beijing Friendship Hospital were enrolled. The primary endpoint was a composite of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACEs), including all-cause death, cardiac death, nonfatal myocardial infarction and stroke at least 2 years after discharge.

RESULTS

In this study, 1695 patients had low SYNTAX scores ([Formula: see text]), 432 patients had medium SYNTAX scores (23-32), 237 patients had high SYNTAX scores (≥ 33), 1018 received medical therapy, and 1346 patients underwent PCI. Long-term MACEs occurred in 95 patients during the 3.38 ± 0.99-year follow-up. Compared to the medical therapy group, the PCI group showed lower MACEs and cardiac death in patients with high SYNTAX scores (7.4% vs. 16.7%, P = 0.048; 3.7% vs. 14.6%, P = 0.004) but no reduction in patients with low and medium SYNTAX scores. Cox multivariate regression analysis showed that advanced age, diabetes mellitus, left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), hs-CRP and high SYNTAX score were independent predictors for MACEs in the medical therapy group (P < 0.05), whereas chronic kidney disease (CKD) and LVEF were predictors of MACEs in the PCI group.

CONCLUSIONS

Compared to medical therapy, PCI could only significantly reduce long-term MACEs and cardiac death for patients with high SYNTAX scores but not for patients with low and medium SYNTAX scores. A high SYNTAX score could predict long-term MACEs for UAP patients in the medical therapy group but not in the PCI group.

The Association between Serum Heme Oxygenase-1 Levels and Coronary SYNTAX Score

AIM

The relationship between heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) levels and atherosclerosis was investigated in multiple studies. The aim of this study was to establish the relationship between HO-1 levels and coronary SYNergy between percutaneous coronary intervention with TAXus and Cardiac Surgery (SYNTAX) score in patients with stable coronary artery disease (CAD).

METHODS

Patients who had been planned to undergo invasive coronary angiography due to a suspected CAD, between the dates of September and December 2019, were included in the study. Serum HO-1 levels were measured from peripheral venous blood. The SYNTAX score was calculated using standard coronary angiography images. Regression analysis was performed to establish the relationship between HO-1 levels and the SYNTAX score.

RESULTS

In total, 137 patients were included. The median age was 63 years (IQR: 15), and most of the patients were male (75.2%). The median HO-1 level was 1.44 (IQR: 0.88) ng/mL, and the median SYNTAX score was 6 (IQR: 13). Regression analysis showed that HO-1 is the single most important variable associated with the SYNTAX score (HO-1 levels from 1.01 to 1.87 ng/mL, OR: 6.77, 95% confidence interval 5.18-8.36, p < 0.0001).

CONCLUSION

In this study, serum HO-1 levels were significantly associated with the coronary SYNTAX score.

Do ANGPTL-4 and galectin-3 reflect the severity of coronary artery disease?

BACKGROUND

Coronary artery disease (CAD) is one of the leading causes of mortality and morbidity worldwide. We thereby sought to investigate whether the biomarkers, angiopoietin-like 4 (ANGPTL-4) and galectin-3, reflect the severity of CAD.

METHODS

Patients were screened based on inclusion/exclusion criteria and written informed consent was obtained from the patients. Serum ANGPTL-4 and galectin-3 was quantified using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and correlated with the Global Registry of Acute Coronary Events (GRACE) and GENSINI score using Spearman's rank correlation coefficient and multivariate analysis.

RESULTS

A total of 226 patients consisting of ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), non-STEMI/unstable angina (USA), chronic stable angina (CSA) and normal controls (NCs) participated in the study. ANGPTL-4 and galectin-3 were significantly higher in CAD than the NC group. ANGPTL-4 showed significant negative correlation with GRACE score in acute coronary syndrome (ACS) ( r = -0.211, p = 0.03) patients. ANGPTL-4 showed significant positive correlation with serum creatinine ( r = 0.304, p = 0.056) and body mass index (BMI) ( r = 0.424, p = 0.009) in CSA patients. A modest positive correlation was observed between the serum galectin-3 levels and GRACE score ( r = 0.187, p = 0.055) in ACS patients. However, on multivariate analysis the positive correlation relationship between ANGPTL-4 and galectin-3 with the severity of CAD was not sustained.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, ANGPTL-4 and galectin-3 do not appear to have a promising role for assessing the severity of CAD. Nevertheless these biomarkers do warrant further exploration in improving the management of CAD.