Mortality based on the presenting electrocardiogram in patients with myocardial infarction in the troponin era.
BACKGROUND
Studies reporting short-term mortality in patients with myocardial infarction (MI) based on the initial electrocardiogram (ECG) are often limited by requiring an ischemic ECG for inclusion. Because few patients with normal or nonspecific findings were included, outcomes in these patients are less clear, especially in the troponin era.


METHODS
Consecutive patients diagnosed as having MI using troponin I (TnI) over a 6-year period were included and classified into 8 mutually exclusive groups based on the initial ECG using standard criteria. Patients were included in only 1 group. The MI size was estimated using multiples of peak creatine kinase-MB (CK-MB), and 30-day mortality rate was assessed.


RESULTS
Among 1641 patients with MI, patients with ST elevation represented only 22% of all MIs. Patients with ST elevation had the largest MI size, with 2 of 3 having a peak CK-MB greater than 10 times normal. In contrast, most of the patients representing all the other ECG groups had a peak CK-MB less than 5 times normal, with approximately 1 of 3 having no CK-MB elevation and were diagnosed by TnI elevation alone. Patients could be separated into a high-risk group (ST elevation, ischemia, other, or left bundle-branch block), in which mortality rate exceeded 9% (mean, 14%), and a lower-risk group (prior MI, left ventricular hypertrophy, nonspecific changes, and normal), in which the 30-day mortality rate averaged 6% (P < .001; range, 5.23%-7.1%).


CONCLUSIONS
Specific ECG findings other than ischemia portend poor outcomes in patients with MI. Once MI is diagnosed, patients are no longer low risk.
Department of Internal Medicine, Cardiology Division, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia, USA. mkontos@mcvh-vcu.edu
Michael C
MC
Kontos
Brett D
BD
Roberts
James L
JL
Tatum
Charlotte S
CS
Roberts
Robert L
RL
Jesse
Joseph P
JP
Ornato
D000368:Aged; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D052279:Creatine Kinase, MB Form / Q000097:blood; D004562:Electrocardiography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000401:mortality*; D018570:Risk Assessment; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D019210:Troponin I / Q000097:blood
D015415:Biomarkers; D019210:Troponin I; D052279:Creatine Kinase, MB Form