Blunt trauma raises heart attack risk
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New research supports the idea that that blunt trauma can lead to a heart attack.
“A direct trauma to the heart, namely blunt cardiac injury, created the greatest risk for heart attack, while abdominal or pelvic trauma seems to be important in persons 46 years or older,” said Dr. Rovshan M. Ismailov from the University of Pittsburgh, Philadelphia.
Patients with this type of trauma may benefit from certain tests to screen for heart attack, such as ECG or analysis of cardiac enzymes, the researcher said, noting that these tests may also help prevent later complications of heart attack.
Ismailov and colleagues collected and analyzed statewide hospital discharge data on injuries from 19 states in 1997. Body areas of interest included the chest, abdomen or pelvis, spine or back and blunt cardiac injury, according to the team’s report in the International Journal of Cardiology.
Blunt cardiac injury was strongly associated with heart attack. Even when other risk factors were considered, “direct trauma to the heart was associated with a 2.6-fold increased risk for heart attack in persons 46 years or older,” the investigators report.
When heart attack was confirmed by coronary arteriography, blunt cardiac injury was associated with an 8-fold increased risk of heart attack among the 46 or older age group and a 31-fold increased risk among patients 45 years or younger.
Abdominal or pelvic trauma, even after considering the presence of other risk factors, increased the risk of heart attack by 65 percent among patients 45 years of age or younger and by 93 percent those age 46 or older.
When the diagnosis of heart attack was confirmed by coronary arteriography, abdominal or pelvic trauma was associated with a 6-fold risk increase among patients age 46 or older.
This study, the investigators note, provides the first population-based epidemiological evidence to support that trauma is a risk factor for heart attack. “Longitudinal studies are warranted to better understand the relationship between trauma and heart attack,” they conclude.
SOURCE: International Journal of Cardiology, November 2, 2005.
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