my personal edition > angina pectoris/mi > news


  E-Mail this DGReview to a colleague

DGReview

Heart Rate At Seven Days Is Good Mortality Predictor After Myocardial Infarction

Recording the heart rate in the first week after a heart attack may help predict future heart disease deaths in men. a prospective study of heart attack patients found.

A prospective study of 424 male and female heart attack patients found that among men, the heart rate measurement becomes a more and more powerful predictor from the first day after a heart attack through the fourth to the seventh day.

In the study, heart rate was measured in 303 men and 121 women with constant sinus heart rate, on the first, third and seventh days after hospital admission for acute myocardial infarction. Clinical and laboratory data were obtained on the same days. All patients were followed up for one year.

The researchers found that among the men, 5 percent died within a year if their seven-day heart rates was 80 beats a minute or less. But if their seven-day heart rate was 80 beats a minute or more, their risk of dying rose to 39 percent. There was no significant relationship between mortality and heart rate among women in the study.

The relative risk of death for men with heart rates over 80 beats a minute on the third day was 3.1, rising to 4.1 by the fourth day. On day seven, the relative risk was 8.6.

The researchers found an interactive effect of high heart rate and depressed left ventricular ejection fraction as measured by echocardiography in a group of 203 men in the study.

Although beta-blockers, as expected, influenced heart rate during acute myocardial infarction, they did not influence the association of faster heart rate with one-year mortality.
Can J Cardiol 2002; 18(5): 495-502. "Heart rate during myocardial infarction: Relationship with one-year global mortality in men and women"

E-Mail this DGReview to a colleague

To print, use this version