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Raised cardiac troponin T levels in patients without acute coronary syndrome

¹ Aintree Cardiac Centre, University Hospital Aintree, Liverpool, UK
² Clinical Laboratories, University Hospital Aintree, Liverpool, UK

Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
P Wong
Aintree Cardiac Centre, University Hospital Aintree, Liverpool L9 7AL, UK; peter.wong{at}aintree.nhs.uk

Objective: To investigate the frequency, diagnosis and outcome of patients admitted to hospital with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) or other conditions associated with raised levels of cardiac troponin T.

Design: Observational study.

Setting: A large university hospital.

Patients: Consecutive patients admitted over an 8-week period who had a serum troponin T test as part of their clinical assessment were included. Patients were separated into those with raised (0.01 µg/l) or normal (<0.01 µg/l) troponin T levels, and further categorised into those with or without a diagnosis of ACS.

Main outcome measures: In-hospital mortality in all patients; and 6-month hospital re-admissions and all-cause mortality in patients without or with ACS and raised levels of troponin T.

Results: Of 1021 patients, 118 patients had no ACS but raised troponin T levels, 195 had ACS with raised troponin T, 80 had ACS with normal troponin T and 628 had no ACS with normal troponin T. Their in-hospital all-cause mortalities were 36%, 18%, 0% and 3%, respectively (p<0.001, highest mortality v other groups). 6-month all-cause mortality remained higher in patients without ACS and with raised levels of troponin T than in those with ACS and raised troponin T (42% v 29%; p = 0.020).

Conclusions: Patients without ACS but with raised levels of troponin T comprised 38% of all hospitalised patients found to have raised troponin T. These patients had worse in-hospital and 6-month outcome than those having ACS with raised levels of troponin T.

Abbreviations: ACS, acute coronary syndrome

Keywords: acute coronary syndrome; without acute coronary syndrome; raised troponin T; all-cause mortality

This article has been cited by other articles:

				P Wong, A Ramsewak, S Murray, A Robinson, D Robinson, and E Rodrigues Effects of comorbidity and hospital care on 6-month mortality in patients with elevated cardiac troponin T Postgrad. Med. J., May 1, 2007; 83(979): 332 - 337. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

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