IJCS | Volume 32, Nº2, March/April 2019

119 Table 1 - General characteristics of the cohort Characteristic n = 118 Gender Female 30.6% Male 69.4% Age < 60 years old 47.5% ≥ 60 years old 52.5% Hypertension Yes 64.3% No 35.7% Drinking habit Yes 30.2% No 69.8% Smoking habit Yes 40.7% No 39.8% Ex 18.5% Diabetes Yes 37.9% No 62% BMI < 27 kg/m 2 50.9% ≥ 27 kg/m 2 49.1% hs-CRP (mg/dl) < 2.6 mg/dL 49.4% ≥ 2.6 mg/dL 50.6% Any reperfusion therapy* Yes 70.5% No 29.5% *Thrombolytic therapy or primary angioplasty; hs-CRP: high- sensitivity C-reactive protein; BMI: body mass index. Milano et al. C-reactive protein as a predictor of mortality Int J Cardiovasc Sci. 2019;32(2)118-124 Original Article One of the main components of the response to tissue injury caused by myocardial infarction is a robust inflammatory reaction. 6,7 In the early phase of myocardial infarction, hs-CRP may be a simple marker of the magnitude of the inflammatory response to myocardial ischemia, potentially providing prognostic information regarding the risk of death. 6,8,9 We aimed to evaluate the association of hs-CRP levels on admission, and other clinical characteristics with occurrence of in-hospital death of patients with acute ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). Methods Study design A retrospective cohort study of 136 patients admitted with acute STEMI to the emergency department or the coronary care unit during a one-year period was conducted. Eighteen patients were excluded from the study because of insufficient data, and thus 118 patients were analyzed. The following variables were evaluated – sex, age, diabetes mellitus, smoking habit, drinking habit, reperfusion therapy, arterial hypertension, hs-CRP on admission, and body mass index (BMI). We identified a cohort of patients with a median age of 60 years old (interquartile range of 19.75 years), 69% of males. Table 1 shows clinical characteristics of the cohort. ST-segment elevationwas identified at first admission to the emergency department or the coronary care unit and myocardial infarction was diagnosed according to the Joint European Society of Cardiology/American College of Cardiology 10 criteria. Diabetesmellituswas defined as fasting plasma glucose ≥ 126 mg/dL, glycated hemoglobin ≥ 6.5%, or treatment with insulinor hypoglycemic agents. Patientswith systolic/ diastolic blood pressure > 140/90 mmHg or using any antihypertensivemedicationwere definedas hypertensive. Drinking habit was defined as ingestion of alcoholic beverage in the last year, whereas cigarette smoking was defined as active smoking in the last six months. Blood sampling and hs-CRP assay Venous blood samples were obtained on admission and serum hs-CRP was determined by the turbidimetric method. This method assesses agglutination of latex particles coated with antibody against CRP by quantifying the absorbed light. The assay has a detection limit of 0.4 mg/dL Statistical analysis Data were analyzed by the computer software program R (R CORE TEAM, 2017), version 3.4.0. Descriptive characteristics were calculated for continuous variables (median and interquartile range, IQR) and