IJCS | Volume 32, Nº6, November / December 2019

DOI: 10.5935/2359-4802.20190039 576 ORIGINAL ARTICLE International Journal of Cardiovascular Sciences. 2019;32(6):576-582 Mailing Adress: Heloyse Martins Duarte Rua das Cerejeiras, 235, Pedra Branca. Postal Code: 88137-250. Palhoça, SC - Brazil. E-mail: heloysem@hotmail.com Association Between Chocolate Consumption and Severity of First Infarction Heloyse Martins Duarte, ¹ M ilena Christy Rocha de Oliveira ,¹ R amona Jung ,¹ Roberto Léo da Silva, ² Tammuz Fatah, ² D aniel Medeiros Moreira¹ , ² Universidade do Sul de Santa Catarina (Unisul) - Unidade Pedra Branca, 1 Palhoça, SC - Brazil Instituto de Cardiologia de Santa Catarina (ICSC) 2 - São José, SC - Brazil Manuscript received on February 16, 2019; reviewed on March 18,2019; accepted on April 03,2019. Abstract Background: Cardiovascular diseases, such as acute myocardial infarction, are the main causes of death in the world. The flavonoids present in chocolate can have benefits for people who have risk factors to the development of cardiovascular diseases and have a coadjuvant effect on known therapies. Objective: To analyze the association between chocolate consumption, severity of coronary lesions, risk factors and severity of the first infarction in patients attended at the Cardiology Institute of Santa Catarina and other hospitals in the State of Santa Catarina. Methods: Subanalysis of the Catarina Heart Study cohort, evaluated 350 patients with first myocardial infarction. We evaluated clinical, echocardiographic, hemodynamic laboratorial variables. We used chi square test to evaluate qualitative variables, t student test in the case of parametric variables and U Mann Whitney test in non-parametric variables. We considered significant p < 0,05. Results: Lower prevalence of hypertension (43.2% % vs. 62.3% p = 0.003), diabetes mellitus (13.5% vs. 25.7%, p = 0.027) and smoking (24.3% vs. 37.7%, p = 0.032) among those who consume chocolate. Higher use of alcohol (40.5% vs. 26.4%, p = 0.018) and drugs (9.5% vs. 3.3%, p = 0.023) among those who consumed chocolate. Among the patients who consumed chocolate, there was a negative correlation between amount consumed and Syntax (r = -0.296, p = 0.019). Conclusion: There was association between chocolate consumption and lower prevalence of hypertension, diabetes and smoking. There was no association between amount of chocolate consumed and post-infarction ventricular function and TIMI frame count. Higher prevalence of alcohol and drug use among those who consume chocolate. Negative correlation between Syntax and the amount of chocolate consumed. (Int J Cardiovasc Sci. 2019;32(6):576-582) Keywords: Cardiovascular Diseases/mortality; Myocardial Infarction/physiopathology; Flavonoids; Polyphenols; Cacao. Introduction Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are the leading cause of death worldwide. 1 These include acute myocardial infarction (AMI) which, from 2008 to 2017, accounted for 813,982 hospital admissions in Brazil. 2 There is evidence of the link between reduction of risks of cardiovascular events and chocolate consumption in larger amounts, as chocolate contains flavonoids. 3,4 Studies indicate that flavonoids present in cocoa or cocoa products have the potential to benefit people with risk factors for the development of CVD through different mechanisms, such as anti-inflammatory action. 5-8 This is of great importance, as AMI is also characterized as an inflammatory disease. 9 However, aspirin and statins are the only medications that fight inflammation and are used in AMI. 9 The inclusion of a relatively high amount of high-flavonoid