title: Blood cells characteristics as determinants of acute myocardial infarction.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The aim of this study is to analyse the relation between red blood cells, platelets morphology and acute myocardial infarction (AMI), and to assess whether they could supplement the role of traditional cardiac biomarkers in the early identification of patients with AMI.
  
  
  METHODS
  All consecutive patients admitted to our emergency department between the 1st January and the 31st August 2009 due to chest pain of suspected cardiac origin were included in the study. All the patients underwent physical examination, a 12-lead ECG, blood sampling for determination of cardiac troponin I and a complete blood count.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A percentage of 6.7% of the 1971 patients had a confirmed diagnosis of AMI. Mean corpuscular volume (MCV), red blood cells distribution width (RDW) and platelets count (Plt) did not differ between patients with and without AMI. However, the mean platelet volume (MPV) was significantly higher in AMI patients (7.9 vs. 7.7 fL; p=0.0457). After stratification for gender, men with AMI displayed a lower RDW (p=0.0464) and a higher MPV (p=0.0062) as compared with those without AMI. The MCV and Plt were not significantly different. Women with AMI had a higher RDW (p=0.0079) as compared with those without AMI, while the MCV, Plt and MPV were not significantly different.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our study partially confirms previous data on the association between MPV or RDW and AMI. The inclusion of these parameters along with other conventional cardiac biomarkers might be a valuable perspective when evaluating patients with suspected AMI, although gender differences should be taken in account.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, San Maurizio Regional Hospital, Bolzano, Italy.
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Cemin
authors.forename: Luca
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Donazzan
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lippi
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Clari
authors.forename: Massimo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Daves
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000378:metabolism; D001792:Blood Platelets / Q000473:pathology*; D042241:Early Diagnosis; D004912:Erythrocytes / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000378:metabolism; D012372:ROC Curve
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers