M. Jimenez-navarro et al., The influence of angina the week before a first myocardial infarction on short and medium-term prognosis, REV ESP CAR, 54(10), 2001, pp. 1161-1166
Introduction and objectives. The implications of early angina on the progno
sis of myocardial infarction are controversial. The aim of this study was t
o assess the effect of angina one week before the first myocardial infarcti
on on short and medium-term prognosis.
Patients and method. A total of 290 consecutive patients (107 with previous
angina and 183 without it) with the first myocardial infarction were studi
ed to determine the effect of preceding angina on short and medium-term pro
gnosis. Further criteria for inclusion were no previous history of angina >
1 week before the first myocardial infarction, and no evidence of prior str
uctural cardiopathy. The end points studied were death and congestive heart
failure in the acute phase of myocardial infarction and during the follow-
up.
Results. Patients with a history of prodromal angina were less likely to ex
perience in-hospital death, heart failure or combined end-point (3.7 vs 11.
5%; 4.6 vs 15.8%; 7.5 vs; 21.3%) (p=0.002). There was also a difference bet
ween groups in the follow-up (4.1 vs 13.2%; p=0.03). Multivariate analysis
confirmed that the presence of preinfarction angina was an independent pred
ictor of death and heart failure in the acute phase of myocardial infarctio
n as well as in the follow-up.
Conclusions. The occurrence of angina one week before the first myocardial
infarction protects against death and heart failure in the acute phase of m
yocardial infarction as well as in the medium follow-up.