RESUMEN
Objective To explore the impact of smoking on coronary plaque characteristics on optical coherence tomography(OCT) in young patients with acute coronary disease(ACS).Methods We assessed the atherosclerotic plaque characteristics and vulnerability by OCT and coronary angiography in 60 ACS patients aged 45 years or younger in Beijing Anzhen Hospital, from June 2014 to June 2017. The patients were divided into the smoking group(n=33) and the non-smoking group(n=27) to compare the plaque characteristics and vulnerability.Results Smoking patients showed a less extent of fibrosis(48.55%vs. 77.8%,P=0.032)and microchannels(18.2%vs. 44.4%,P=0.033), and a greater extent of plaque rupture (24.2%vs. 3.7%,P=0.033) compared with non-smoking patients. In multivariate analysis, smoking was the only independent predictors of plaque rupture(OR 8.320, 95%CI 0.969-71.435,P=0.027) and less fibrosis (OR 0.269, 95%CI 0.086-0.837,P=0.020). Conclusions Patients who are smokers have less extensive fibrosis and a greater extent of plaque rupture, showing more extensive vulnerable plaque phenotype. Therefore, smoking is one of the major risk factors of advanced cardiovascular events in young patients.