RESUMO
INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES: Cardiac troponins are highly specific and sensitive for detecting minimal myocardial damage. The aim of our study was to determine the prognostic value of troponin T levels in patients hospitalized for suspected angina or myocardial infarction without ST-segment elevation. PATIENTS AND METHOD: We recorded the frequency of death, acute myocardial infarction, heart failure, or need for coronary revascularization in the three months after the onset of symptoms in 346 consecutive patients admitted for suspected acute coronary syndrome, excluding those who developed myocardial infarction with persistent ST-segment elevation. RESULT: . Serum troponin T levels were > or = 0.1 ng/ml in 133 patients (troponin T positive group) and lower in 213 patients (troponin T negative group). The relative risk (RR) and 95 percent confidence intervals (95% CI) of individual and grouped events for the troponin T positive group were 3.2 (95% CI, 1.4-7.3; p = 0.006) for death; 2.8 (95% CI, 1.43-5.51; p = 0.003) for death or myocardial infarction; and 2.8 (95% CI, 1.6-5.0; p < 0.001) for death, myocardial infarction or heart failure. Diabetes mellitus and troponin T levels > or = 0.1 ng/ml had independent prognostic value after adjusting for age, sex, and electrocardiographic changes; with RR 2.5 (95% CI, 1.01-5.9) for death, myocardial infarction or heart failure. CONCLUSIONS: The prognosis of patients hospitalized for chest pain who do not immediately develop transmural necrosis depends on serum troponin T levels at hospital admission. Troponin T levels > or = 0.1 ng/ml almost triple the risk of major events in the three months after the acute episode. The prognostic value of troponin T is independent of age, sex, presence of diabetes mellitus, and electrocardiographic changes.