Background: Elevated cardiac troponins in clinical conditions other than myocardial infarction are well known. For such occurrences, the term "myocardial injury" has been proposed. The long-term outcome in patients with myocardial injury related to various cardiac and noncardiac clinical disorders is unknown.
Methods: During January 2010 to January 2011, we prospectively studied hospitalized patients who had cardiac troponin I measured on clinical indication. Patients with cardiac troponin I values >30 ng/L and no evidence of myocardial ischemia were diagnosed as having myocardial injury. Patients were classified into 5 categories of plausible related conditions: cardiac ischemic, cardiac nonischemic, noncardiac, multifactorial, or indeterminate. Follow-up was a minimum of 3 years, with all-cause mortality as the single end-point.
Results: A total of 3762 patients were considered, of whom 1089 (29%) had myocardial injury. The most common associated conditions were noncardiac (n = 346) or multifactorial (n = 359). Cardiac ischemic (n = 183) and cardiac nonischemic (n = 134) conditions occurred less frequently. After a median of 3.2 years, 645 patients (59%) had died. A multivariate Cox regression analysis showed no difference in mortality between patients with cardiac ischemic and cardiac nonischemic conditions (hazard ratio [HR] 0.75; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.50-1.13; P = .2). Patients with noncardiac or multifactorial disorders, however, had significantly higher mortality than those with associated cardiac ischemic conditions (HR 1.39; 95% CI, 1.06-1.80; P = .02, and HR 1.94; 95% CI, 1.50-2.51; P <.001), respectively.
Conclusions: In patients with myocardial injury, the most common associated conditions were noncardiac or multifactorial. Of notice, these patients had significantly higher long-term mortality when compared with those with associated cardiac conditions.
Keywords: Myocardial injury; Prognosis; Troponins.
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