Characteristics of patients with elevated cardiac troponins
| Without clinical MI diagnosis | With clinical MI diagnosis | |
| Total number of patients | 281 | 964 |
| cTn dynamics >20%, n (%) | 233 (82.9) | 796 (92.8)* |
| Cardiovascular risk factors | ||
| Age, mean (SD) | 73.3 (14.2) | 72.8 (12.5) |
| Male sex | 159 (56.6) | 605 (62.8) |
| Active smoking† | 34 (12.1) | 181 (18.8) |
| Hypertension | 166 (59.1) | 523 (54.2) |
| Hyperlipidaemia | 36 (12.8) | 254 (26.3) |
| Diabetes mellitus | 60 (21.3) | 218 (22.6) |
| Medical history | ||
| MI | 77 (27.4) | 297 (30.8) |
| Heart failure | 69 (24.6) | 139 (14.4) |
| COPD | 22 (7.8) | 68 (7.0) |
| Dementia | 19 (6.8) | 42 (4.4) |
| Investigations in hospital | ||
| Coronary angiography | 12 (4.3) | 680 (70.5) |
| Echocardiography | 83 (29.5) | 612 (63.5) |
| Alive at discharge | 257 (91.5) | 875 (90.8) |
| Treatment at discharge, % of alive | ||
| Aspirin | 120 (46.7) | 826 (94.4) |
| Statin | 74 (28.4) | 714 (81.6) |
| Beta-blocker | 155 (60.3) | 761 (87.0) |
| Death during follow-up (mean 6.0 years) | 160 (56.9) | 397 (41.2) |
Values are number (%).
*11% of patients with a clinical diagnosis of MI had less than two recorded troponin values.
†16.4% missing data for patients without a clinical MI diagnosis and 17.0% for patients with a clinical MI diagnosis.
COPD, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; cTn, cardiac troponin; MI, myocardial infarction.