ABC | Volume 112, Nº3, March 2019

Original Article Castro et al Troponin I after acute coronary syndrome Arq Bras Cardiol. 2019; 112(3):230-237 Table 1 – Baseline characteristics of the study population according to 25–90 day troponin tertile Characteristic 1 st tertile 2 nd tertile 3 rd tertile p-value Number of participants 179 171 175 25–90 day troponin range < 0.012 0.012–0.023 > 0.023 ACS subtype (%) UA 80 (44.9) 47 (27.5) 24 (13.7) < 0.001 NSTEMI 67 (37.4) 77 (45.0) 86 (49.1) STEMI 32 (17.9) 47 (27.5) 65 (37.1) Age* (years) 60 (51-68) 63 (55-70) 61 (53-73) 0.05 Male gender (%) 95 (53.1) 102 (59.6) 119 (68.0) 0.02 Previous history of CHD (%) 49 (29.2) 39 (23.8) 40 (25.2) 0.51 Family history of CHD (%) 52 (36.4) 43 (31.4) 50 (38.46) 0.46 Hypertension (%) 136 (78.2) 127 (75.1) 126 (73.3) 0.56 Diabetes (%) 61 (35.7) 61 (37.2) 67 (39.6) 0.75 Dyslipidemia (%) 87 (54.4) 85 (55.6) 75 (48.4) 0.40 Heart failure (%) 27 (16.2) 36 (22.4) 39 (23.8) 0.19 Chronic kidney disease (%) 5 (3.1) 6 (4.1) 15 (10.3) 0.02 Previous stroke (%) 17 (9.9) 15 (9.1) 21 (12.1) 0.91 Sedentary lifestyle (%) 117 (68.8) 106 (63.5) 127 (77.4) 0.02 Smoking status (%) Current 44 (25.6) 48 (28.7) 58 (33.9) 0.31 Past 68 (39.5) 64 (38.3) 69 (40.4) Never 60 (34.9) 55 (32.9) 44 (25.7) Body mass index* 27.1 (24.5-30.4) 26.6 (24.2-29.4) 26.0 (23.5-29.4) 0.05 Total cholesterol* (mg/dL) 174 (145-205) 169 (139-207) 174 (141-205) 0.65 LDL cholesterol* (mg/dL) 101 (79-133) 103 (79-136) 109 (80-135) HDL cholesterol* (mg/dL) 37 (31-44) 36 (31-44) 36 (30-44) Triglycerides* (mg/dL) 131 (100–190) 141 (97–192) 130 (97–181) Hemoglobin* (g/dL) 14.3 (13.4-15.2) 14.1 (13.1-15.2) 14.2 (12.9-15.4) 0.84 Troponin levels on admission† (mcg/L) 1.88 (0.09–9.20) 7.03 (1.16–41.97) 16.82 (3.05–44.16) 0.32 Estimated GFR-CKD-Epi* (ml/min/1.73 m 2 ) 83 (67-95) 79 (62-92) 71 (48-94) <0.001 LVEF < 0.40 (%) 4 (3.5) 8 (6.6) 28 (21.9) <0.001 Medication at 1 st follow-up (%) Aspirin 155 (87.6) 143 (83.6) 134 (79.3) 0.12 Clopidogrel 92 (52.0) 100 (58.5) 82 (48.5) 0.17 Beta blocker 117 (66.1) 119 (69.6) 96 (56.8) 0.04 Statin 137 (77.4) 135 (78.9) 123 (72.8) 0.38 ACE inhibitor 120 (67.8) 108 (63.2) 94 (55.6) 0.06 Angiotensin receptor blocker 10 (5.6) 15 (8.8) 6 (3.6) 0.12 ACS: acute coronary syndrome; UA: unstable angina; NSTEMI: non-ST-elevation myocardial infarction; STEMI: ST-elevation myocardial infarction; CHD: coronary heart disease; LDL: low-density lipoprotein; HDL: high-density lipoproteina; GFR: glomerular filtration rate; LVEF: left ventricular ejection fraction;ACE: angiotensin-converting enzyme. Outside the scope of ACS, several studies have also found an association between elevated cTn levels and risk of death. In patients with stable coronary heart disease, a greater risk for cardiovascular mortality and incidence of heart failure has been found in those with higher levels of hs-cTnT 26-28 and hs-cTnI. 29 Elevated circulating hs-cTnT was also shown to be independently associated with higher mortality in outpatients with stable heart failure, 30,31 and in patients with aortic stenosis. 32 Even in the general population, de Lemos et al. 33 found an association between high levels of hs-cTnT and poorer survival in a population-based cohort of 3546 individuals. These results suggest that persistently 233