title: Incremental value of echocardiographic assessment beyond clinical evaluation for prediction of death and development of heart failure after high-risk myocardial infarction.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Echocardiographic measurements of left ventricular (LV) function, predominantly LV ejection fraction (LVEF), have been used to define risk in patients after myocardial infarction. However, the extent to which measures of LV structure and function provide incremental prognostic value over clinical variables in survivors of high-risk myocardial infarction has not been well defined.
  
  
  METHODS
  Predictors of death and development of heart failure were assessed in 603 patients from the Valsartan in Acute Myocardial Infarction (VALIANT) echocardiographic substudy. We used multivariable proportional hazards models to assess the individual predictive value of echocardiographic measures including left ventricular mass index, LVEF, LV volumes, left atrial volume index, right ventricular fractional area change, mitral regurgitation, and deceleration time. We adjusted for the 11 clinical variables found previously to be most associated with all-cause mortality in this cohort. Receiver operating characteristic curves obtained via binary response regression were used to assess the incremental predictive value of echocardiographic measures in predicting outcomes of death and hospital stay for heart failure.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Each echocardiographic measure was independently associated with outcome of death or development of heart failure (all P < .002). Left ventricular ejection fraction alone added minimal prognostic value to the clinical assessment, yet adding additional echocardiographic assessments to a multivariable model improved in predicting 17-month survival free of heart failure significantly, increasing the c-statistic from 0.74 to 0.84 (P < .001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Echocardiographic measures of cardiac structure and function beyond LVEF provide important prognostic information beyond the clinical assessment.
authors.affiliation: Cardiovascular Division, Ochsner Medical Center, New Orleans, LA, USA.
authors.forename: Anil
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Verma
authors.forename: Marc A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Pfeffer
authors.forename: Hicham
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Skali
authors.forename: Jean
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rouleau
authors.forename: Aldo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Maggioni
authors.forename: John J V
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: McMurray
authors.forename: Robert M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Califf
authors.forename: Eric J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Velazquez
authors.forename: Scott D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Solomon
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D019540:Area Under Curve; D015150:Echocardiography, Doppler; D005260:Female; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000150:complications* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy; D011379:Prognosis; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012372:ROC Curve; D018570:Risk Assessment; D016277:Ventricular Function, Left