The incidence of cardiovascular events remains high in patients with myocardial infarction (MI) despite advances in current therapies. New and better methods for identifying patients at high risk of recurrent cardiovascular (CV) events are needed. This study aimed to analyze the predictive value of an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) in patients with acute myocardial infarction without known diabetes mellitus (DM).
The prospective cohort study consisted of 123 men and women aged between 31-80 years who had suffered a previous MI 3-12 months before the examinations. The exclusion criteria were known diabetes mellitus. Patients were followed up over 6.03???1.36 years for CV death, recurrent MI, stroke and unstable angina pectoris. A standard OGTT was performed at baseline.
25-hydroxyvitamin d levels and risk of ischemic heart disease, myocardial infarction, and early death: population-based study and meta-analyses of 18 and 17 studies.
We tested the hypothesis that reduced plasma 25-hydroxyvitamin D associates with increased risk of ischemic heart disease, myocardial infarction, and early death.
We measured baseline plasma 25-hydroxyvitamin D in 10 170 women and men from the Danish general population without vitamin D-fortified food. During 29 years of follow-up, 3100 persons developed ischemic heart disease, 1625 myocardial infarction, and 6747 died. Decreasing plasma 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels were associated with increasing risk of ischemic heart disease, myocardial infarction, and early death as a function of seasonally adjusted percentile categories (P for trend, 2×10(-4)-3×10(-53)). Comparing individuals with plasma 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels at the 1st to 4th percentile with individuals with levels at the 50th to 100th percentile, the multivariable adjusted risk was increased by 40% (95% CI, 14%-72%) for ischemic heart disease, by 64% (25%-114%) for myocardial infarction, by 57% (38%-78%) for early death, and by 81% (40%-135%) for fatal ischemic heart disease/myocardial infarction. In the meta-analyses of 18 and 17 studies, risk of ischemic heart disease and early death were increased by 39% (25%-54%) and 46% (31%-64%) for lowest versus highest quartile of 25-hydroxyvitamin D level.
We observed increasing risk of ischemic heart disease, myocardial infarction, and early death with decreasing plasma 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels. These findings were substantiated in meta-analyses.
In a previous report, a large regional variation was reported in total mortality and mortality rate from ischaemic heart disease (IHD) in mid-Sweden. In this report, IHD prevalence and risk factor data are presented. A postal questionnaire was sent out to a random sample of men aged 45-64 years in each of 40 communities. 14,675 men (88%) responded. Based on a validity study, IHD cases were defined as those with a history of myocardial infarction and/or angina pectoris. Age, smoking habits, antihypertensive treatment, body mass index, food habits, stress and physical activity during leisure time were used as risk factors. IHD prevalence showed the same geographical variation as IHD mortality, with a low prevalence in the east and a high prevalence in the west. There was a moderate variation in risk factor levels over the 40 communities. When this variation was taken into account the geographical IHD variation was somewhat smaller but still substantial. Other factors may involve socio-economics, drinking water qualities, mineral soil content or other environmental factors. Which of these cause the largest IHD variation is at present unknown, but is subject to systematic examination in this project.
A case-control study was conducted to investigate the association between serum selenium and risk of death from acute coronary heart disease (CHD) as well as risk of fetal and non-fetal myocardial infarction (MI). Case-control pairs came from a population of 11,000 persons examined in 1972 from two counties in eastern Finland, an area with an exceptionally high mortality from cardiovascular diseases. Cases were aged 35-59 years and had died of CHD or other CVD or had a non-fetal MI during a seven-year follow-up. Controls were matched for sex, age, daily tobacco consumption, serum cholesterol, diastolic blood pressure, and history of angina pectoris. The mean serum selenium concentration for all cases was 51.8 micrograms/l and for all controls 55.3 micrograms/l (p less than 0.01). Serum selenium of less than 45 micrograms/l was associated with an adjusted relative risk of CHD death of 2.9 (p less than 0.01, 95% CI, 1.4-6.0), a relative risk of CVD death of 2.2 (p less than 0.01, 95% CI, 1.2-4.0), and a relative risk of fatal and nonfatal MI of 2.1 (p less than 0.001, 95% Ci, 1.4-3.1). 22% (95% CI, 8-35%) of contrary deaths were attributable to serum selenium in the whole study population.
We tested the hypothesis that moderately elevated plasma creatinine levels and decreased levels of estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) are associated with increased risk of myocardial infarction, ischemic heart disease, and early death in the general population.
We studied 10,489 individuals with a plasma creatinine measurement and calculated eGFR from the Danish general population, of which 1498 developed myocardial infarction, 3001 ischemic heart disease, and 7573 died during 32 years follow-up.
Cumulative incidences of myocardial infarction and ischemic heart disease as a function of age increased with increasing levels of creatinine, and survival decreased (log-rank trends:
Effect of dietary and antismoking advice on the incidence of myocardial infarction: a 16-year follow-up of the Oslo Diet and Antismoking Study after its close.
BACKGROUND AND AIM: The Oslo Diet and Antismoking Study was a 5-year randomised controlled trial initiated in 1972-1973 and ended in 1977-1978, which showed that dietary change and smoking cessation reduced the incidence of coronary heart disease among high risk middle-aged men. In an extended follow-up we studied the incidence of myocardial infarction (MI) 16 years after the end of the trial in the intervention and control groups. METHODS: The primary endpoint was the first occurrence of non-fatal and fatal MI including sudden death up to December 31 1993. Cases of fatal MI were identified by linkage to Statistics Norway using each subject's individual personal number. Cases of non-fatal MI were extracted from the hospital records. Cox proportional hazards regression models estimated relationships between changes in total cholesterol and triglyceride concentrations and smoking status and the primary endpoints up to 16 years following the end of the trial. RESULTS: At 5 and 10 years following the end of the trial the incidence of MI among the 604 men in the intervention (I) and 628 in the control (C) group differed significantly (5-year event rate (I/C) =0.059/0.090; P=0.038 and 10-year event rate (I/C) =0.111/0.155; P=0.023), but the difference faded slowly and subsequently (P=0.069 at 16 years). The reduction in MI in the intervention group was primarily explained by the differences in total cholesterol and triglyceride concentrations between the groups. CONCLUSION: This extended follow-up of the Oslo Diet and Antismoking Study found a prolonged benefit of the intervention lasting for at least a decade after the close of the trial. This finding is in accordance with statin and other studies showing that the effect of cholesterol lowering may be prolonged after the end of the intervention.
Influence of plasma fibrinogen levels on the incidence of myocardial infarction and death is modified by other inflammation-sensitive proteins: a long-term cohort study.
Division of Medical Angiology, Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Epidemiology, Lund University, Malmö University Hospital, Malmö, Sweden. Peter.C.Lind@skane.se
Inflammation may play an important role in atherosclerotic disease. Plasma fibrinogen is an established predictor of cardiovascular events. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether other inflammation-sensitive plasma proteins modify this prediction. We studied the incidence of cardiac events and death in men in relation to fibrinogen levels alone and in combination with other proteins. The study was based on 6075 men, who were, on average, 46 years old at the time of the screening examination, which included the quantitative assessment of plasma levels of fibrinogen, orosomucoid, alpha(1)-antitrypsin, haptoglobin, and ceruloplasmin. The concentration of each protein was divided into quartiles for each. This classification made it possible to identify 4 groups, ie, men in the first fibrinogen quartile and at the same time either not belonging to the fourth quartile of any of the other proteins (Q1/No group) or also belonging to the fourth quartile of >/=1 of the additional proteins (Q1/Yes group) and corresponding groups in the fourth fibrinogen quartile (Q4/No and Q4/Yes groups). During the follow-up, which occurred at an average of 16 years, 439 (7.2%) men experienced a cardiac event, and 653 (10.7%) died; 278 of these men died of cardiovascular diseases, with 206 deaths attributed to ischemic heart disease. From the lowest to the highest quartile, there was for each protein a stepwise increase in the incidence of cardiac events and mortality. All-cause mortality and cardiovascular mortality were significantly higher in the Q4/Yes group compared with the Q4/No group, but they were similar in the Q4/No and Q1/Yes groups. The incidence of cardiac events was significantly higher in the Q1/Yes and Q4/Yes groups compared with the Q1/No and Q4/No groups, respectively. The increased cardiovascular mortality and cardiac event rates remained after adjustment for several confounders when the Q4/Yes and Q4/No groups were compared. The results suggest that the incidence of cardiac events and death due to cardiovascular diseases in middle-aged men predicted by plasma levels of fibrinogen is modified by other inflammation-sensitive proteins.
CONTEXT: Elevated nonfasting triglycerides indicate the presence of remnant lipoproteins, which may promote atherosclerosis. OBJECTIVE: To test the hypothesis that very high levels of nonfasting triglycerides predict myocardial infarction (MI), ischemic heart disease (IHD), and death. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: A prospective cohort study of 7587 women and 6394 men from the general population of Copenhagen, Denmark, aged 20 to 93 years, followed up from baseline (1976-1978) until 2004. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Hazard ratios (HRs) for incident MI, IHD, and total death according to baseline nonfasting triglyceride level categories of 1 to 1.99 mmol/L (88.5-176.1 mg/dL), 2 to 2.99 mmol/L (177.0-264.6 mg/dL), 3 to 3.99 mmol/L (265.5-353.0 mg/dL), 4 to 4.99 mmol/L (354.0-441.6 mg/dL), and 5 mmol/L or more (> or =442.5 mg/dL) vs triglyceride levels of less than 1 mmol/L (
Consecutive patients admitted to our hospital with suspected acute myocardial infarction during 21 months were prospectively evaluated. One-year mortality after discharge from hospital was related to whether or not an infarction developed (infarct versus non-infarct patients). Of patients discharged alive after developing an infarct, there was a mortality of 17% (n = 777) versus 12% (n = 1830) (P less than 0.001) for all patients not developing infarction. In a high risk group (any of the following: age greater than or equal to 75 years, previous history of myocardial infarction, diabetes mellitus or congestive heart failure) patients developing infarction had a mortality of 24% (n = 457) versus 17% (n = 1221) for those who did not (P less than 0.001). In a low risk group (none of the high risk criteria), the corresponding mortality was 8% (n = 316) for patients suffering infarction and 3% (n = 603) for those not having infarction (P less than 0.001). The difference in mortality between patients with and without infarction was most marked in women (21% vs 11%; P less than 0.01) and in hypertensives (25% vs 12%; P less than 0.001), but less marked in men (16% vs 13%; NS) and in patients without hypertension (13% vs 12%; NS). Among patients not suffering infarction, mortality was particularly high in those with previous congestive heart failure (23%) and diabetes mellitus (21%).
Risk factors for myocardial infarction in the Stockholm prospective study. A 14-year follow-up focussing on the role of plasma triglycerides and cholesterol.
A 14-year follow-up of the Stockholm prospective study is reported. A number of 130 new myocardial infarctions (MI) were found in a prospective group of men (n = 3189) and another 46, i.e. a total of 176 MI, in the total group (n = 3486). Different types of multivariate statistical analyses show that age, blood pressure, smoking, fasting plasma concentrations of cholesterol and triglycerides, ESR and Hb were independent risk factors for MI, while the weight/height index was not. Elevated BP became an important risk factor only after the age of 50. When only age, BP, smoking and the two plasma lipids were entered into the logistic multivariate analysis, plasma triglycerides were more important as a risk factor than cholesterol. Quintile analysis showed that the rate of new MIs increased more with increasing triglyceride than increasing cholesterol levels. In the prospective group, the average rate of new MIs for men below 60 years was 32 per 1000. In the bottom and top quintile these rates were 16 and 65 for plasma triglycerides and 27 and 47 for cholesterol. When the men were divided into 4 groups with regard to both plasma lipids, the rate of new MIs increased successively from group to group along this chain: both lipids normal, only cholesterol high, only triglycerides high and both plasma lipids high.
