Article Text

The clinical value of serial measurement of high-sensitivity cardiac troponin T in acute exacerbations ofchronic obstructive pulmonary disease
  1. Arne Didrik Høiseth1,2,
  2. Anke Neukamm1,2,
  3. Tor-Arne Hagve2,3,
  4. Torbjørn Omland1,2,
  5. Pål H Brekke1,2 and
  6. Vidar Søyseth1,2
  1. 1Division of Medicine, Akershus University Hospital, Lørenskog, Norway
  2. 2Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
  3. 3Division of Diagnostics and Technology, Akershus University Hospital, Lørenskog, Norway
  1. Correspondence to Dr Arne Didrik Høiseth; a.d.hoiseth{at}medisin.uio.no

Abstract

Objective To assess the prevalence and long-term prognostic value of a dynamic (rise/fall) pattern of cardiac troponin T (hs-cTnT) elevation during acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD) compared with a stable hs-cTnT elevation.

Methods Prospective cohort study of unselected patients admitted with AECOPD to the emergency room of a university hospital. Serial hs-cTnT measurements were made during admission. Survival after a median of 1.8 years was recorded.

Results 83 patients with a mean age of 72 years and a mean forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1) of 0.9 L. The mortality rate was 62%. The median hs-cTnT at admission was 27 ng/L (IQR 13.4–51)). 65 patients (78%) had at least one hs-cTnT measurement ≥14 ng/L, and among these the median change in hs-cTnT was 50.7% (IQR 25.2–89.4). Of the patients with serial hs-cTnT measurements, 53 (82%) had a dynamic pattern (ie, ΔTnT ≥20%). In multivariate analysis, stable hs-cTnT elevation was associated with increasing age (OR per 5 years with 95% CI 1.9 (1.01 to 3.7), p=0.045) and low Hb (OR 7.3 (1.1 to 49), p=0.039). Stable hs-cTnT elevation was associated with increased mortality with an HR of 2.4 (95%CI 1.1 to 5.3, p=0.027) in the multivariate Cox regression analysis.

Conclusions Among the patients with at least one hs-cTnT above the 99th centile, 82% had a rise/fall pattern, as requested to make a diagnosis of myocardial infarction. Compared to a dynamic rise/fall pattern of hs-cTnT, a stable and moderately elevated hs-cTnT during AECOPD is associated with poor long-term prognosis.

This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 3.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/

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