3.1 Troponins and MACE at long-term follow-up.
Among the entire population, 29 patients were lost to follow-up because
they refused to participate to the follow-up or did not answer to
telephone calls. Follow-up data were, therefore, available in 512
patients, who were followed for a median time of 22.7 months (IQR:
7.2-43.2 months), yielding a total of 1175 patient-years of observation.
During the entire follow-up, 140 patients experienced a MACE (66
non-fatal MI, 74 cardiovascular deaths).
In the whole cohort, a multivariable COX regression analysis showed that
age (HR: 1.06; 95%CI: 1.04-1.08; p value <0.001); in-hospital
maximum levels of hs-cTnT (HR: 2.02; 95% CI: 1.59-2.58;
p<0.001), heart failure (1.90; 95% CI: 1.23-2.95; p=0.004),
and CHD (HR: 1.65; 95% C.I. 1.09-2.49; p value =0.018) independently
predicted MACE, after adjusting for sex, smoking habit, COPD, arterial
hypertension, CKD, diabetes, history of stroke, PAF and CAF).
To better stratify MACE risk in relation to troponin levels, in hospital
maximum hs-cTnT were stratified in 5 quintiles (≤0.010 µg/L; 0.011-0.014
µg/L; 0.015-0.030 µg/l; 0.031-0.074 µg/L, >0.074 µg/L). A
multivariable COX regression analysis showed age, heart failure, CHD and
the increasing quintiles of hs-cTnT (HR: 2.16; 95% CI: 1.82-2.58; p
value <0.001) predicted MACE, after adjusting for the possible
confounding variable (Figure 1).