Type of myocardial infarction presentation in patients with chronic kidney disease.

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Association of coronary and renal disease has been frequently found in epidemiological studies. Whether ECG-graphic presentation of myocardial infarction [S-T Elevated MI (STEMI) or Non S-T Elevated MI (NSTEMI)] is related to the degree of renal dysfunction is still unclear. METHODS AND RESULTS: We examined 146 patients with acute myocardial infarction, consecutively entering the Coronary Care Unit of our ward. At entry, patients underwent clinical, ECG-graphic and echocardiographic examination, and blood samples were withdrawn for cardiac markers and general biochemistry. GFR was calculated using the CKD-EPI equation. STEMI was found in 71 cases and NSTEMI in 75 cases. Renal function was normal in 61 patients (stage 1), mildly impaired (<90 mL/min/1.73 m(2) and ≥ 60 mL/min/1.73 m(2)) in 60 (stage 2) and moderately to severely impaired (GFR <60 mL/min/1.73 m(2)) in 25 cases (stages 3-4). Patients were, thereafter, clustered into two groups (stages 1-2 and stages 3-4). Compared to stage 1-2 subjects, stages 3-4 patients were older, were more likely to be diabetic and had more frequently previous cardiovascular diseases. The probability of presentation of NSTEMI for stage 3-4 patients was 4-fold greater than for stage 1-2 patients (p = 0.02). CONCLUSIONS: These data support the evidence that 1) NSTEMI is associated with more severe kidney dysfunction, likely due to more severe and/or longer lasting exposition to risk factors; 2) cardiac and renal impairment are strongly associated. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01636427.

Cardiac structure and function and arterial circulation in hypertensive patients with and without metabolic syndrome.

High blood pressure (BP) is one of the crucial determinants of the metabolic syndrome (MS). The extent to which MS, diagnosed according to the criteria of the International Federation of Diabetes, impacts on cardiovascular organ damage, independently of BP, is debated. Three hundred and forty hypertensive patients and 100 normotensive controls underwent the following procedures: (1) physical examination and resting BP measurements, (2) 24 h ambulatory BP monitoring, (3) laboratory routine examination, (4) echocardiography, (5) carotid ultrasonography and (6) ankle-brachial BP index. The syndrome was found in 104 of the 340 hypertensive patients (30.6). In comparison to those without MS, those with MS had significantly higher prevalence of left ventricular (LV) hypertrophy by mass/height(2.7) criteria (46 vs 42%, P<0.01) but not by LV mass/body surface criteria (30 vs 31%); the ratio between early-to-late peak velocities of the LV filling waves (E/A) was higher (E/A=0.99+/-0.14 vs 0.89+/-0.15, P<0.01) and left atrium was larger (3.8+/-0.3 vs 3.5+/-0.5 cm, P<0.01). Both hypertensive groups had significantly greater LVM and carotid intima-media thickness than normotensives, without between-group-difference. In this hypertension outpatient clinic almost one-third hypertensive patients have MS. They show a deterioration in structure and function of the heart in comparison to hypertensive patients without MS, but no difference was detected in the carotid and peripheral arterial circulation.