title: Etiology of troponin I elevation in patients with congestive heart failure and low clinical suspicion of myocardial infarction.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Increased troponin I (TnI) has been detected in congestive heart failure (CHF) patients. We demonstrate that occurrence of LVH, and systolic and diastolic blood pressure values (SBP and DBP, respectively) correlate with increasing levels of serum TnI in a selected CHF population.
  
  
  METHODS
  Our team reviewed the medical records of 40 consecutive patients admitted with CHF symptoms, low clinical suspicion of myocardial infarction (MI), and serum TnI measured upon admission. Twenty numerical and categorical parameters were screened. Patients were divided in to seven non-exclusive groups by increasing cutoff values of serum TnI (0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.6, and 1.5 ng/ml). In each group the average value of numerical parameters and the occurrence of categorical ones were calculated. The correlation between these values and the seven TnI cutoffs were analyzed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Occurrence of electrocardiographic left ventricular hypertrophy (ECG-LVH), and average values of SBP and DBP significantly correlated with the TnI cutoffs by means of multiple regression analysis (P = 0.001, 0.02 and 0.007, respectively).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  ECG-LVH and values of SBP and DBP significantly correlate with increasing cutoff levels of serum TnI in hospitalized patients with CHF and low clinical suspicion of MI.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, The Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, OH, USA.
authors.forename: George O
authors.initials: GO
authors.lastname: Angheloiu
authors.forename: Reginald P
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Dickerson
authors.forename: Keyvan
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ravakhah
mesh_terms: D006333:Heart Failure / Q000097:blood* / Q000150:complications; D006801:Humans; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000097:blood* / Q000150:complications; D019210:Troponin I / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D019210:Troponin I