High-Sensitivity Cardiac Troponin I in Apparently Healthy Blood Donors: Cross-Sectional Distribution and Discordance...

Area of Science:

• Cardiology
• Biomarkers
• Preventive Medicine

Background:

• Interpreting low-grade myocardial injury using high-sensitivity cardiac troponin I (hs-TnI) in asymptomatic individuals presents clinical challenges.
• This study aimed to characterize predefined sex-specific hs-TnI categories in healthy blood donors.
• Comparison with established cardiovascular assessment methods was performed to evaluate hs-TnI's utility.

Purpose of the Study:

• To characterize predefined sex-specific high-sensitivity cardiac troponin I (hs-TnI) categories in apparently healthy blood donors.
• To compare these hs-TnI categories with conventional cardiovascular risk assessment tools.
• To investigate the association between hs-TnI levels and traditional cardiovascular risk factors.

Main Methods:

• Cross-sectional analysis of 292 blood donors (40-65 years) using the Abbott ARCHITECT STAT High Sensitive Troponin-I assay.
• Hs-TnI categorization based on predefined sex-specific thresholds.
• Comparison of hs-TnI categories with Framingham Risk Score, cholesterol/HDL-ratio, and SCORE2 using agreement statistics and multivariable models.

Main Results:

• Most donors (86.6%) had low hs-TnI; 5.8% intermediate, 7.5% elevated.
• Hs-TnI distribution was skewed, particularly in the elevated category (median 21.5 ng/L).
• Agreement between hs-TnI categories and conventional scores (Framingham, cholesterol/HDL-ratio, SCORE2) was low (weighted kappa values < 0.08).

Conclusions:

• Predefined hs-TnI categories demonstrated limited concordance with conventional cardiovascular risk scores in this blood donor cohort.
• Conventional cardiovascular variables showed minimal independent association with intermediate or elevated hs-TnI categories.
• Findings suggest hs-TnI may represent a distinct phenotype of low-grade myocardial injury, warranting further investigation.