Comorbid conditions in individuals assessed by SPECT: Study of a reference cardiology center in Mexico City.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: There is an increasing prevalence of comorbidities in patients with ischemic heart disease (IHD) in developing countries. The aim of this work is to assess the prevalence of comorbidities and associated factors for IHD among patients at a reference cardiology center. DESIGN AND METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study. A complete clinical history which focused on the main comorbidities, previous myocardial infarction, and the main reason of referral was assessed. A single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) myocardial perfusion study (MPS) with two protocols was performed. RESULTS: We included 1998 patients, 64.2% male, median age 63 (I.R. 56-71) years. 1514 (75.8%) subjects had at least one associated comorbidity. The main comorbidity was diabetes (T2D) (772 38.6%), followed by systemic hypertension (737 36.9%), smoking (518 25.9%), and dyslipidemia (517 25.9%). 806 (40.3%) had histories of previous myocardial infarctions. The main cause of referral was angina (923 46.2%). We identified 1330 (66.5%) abnormal MPS. 460 (23%) had ischemia, 292 (14.6%) infarction, and 578 (28.9%) ischemia and infarction. CONCLUSION: An increased prevalence of comorbidities was found in patients who were studied in the Nuclear Cardiology Department (NCD) most of them had traditional risk factors attributable to myocardial infarction. A great percentage were newly diagnosed with both ischemia and infarction.