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[Risk factors and atherosclerotic complications in Vienna: myocardial infarct and stroke]
Insights
Age and sex significantly influence myocardial infarction and stroke outcomes. A combination of risk factors, rather than single ones, predicts severe atherosclerosis and mortality in these cardiovascular events.
Area of Science:
- Cardiology
- Neurology
- Epidemiology
Context:
- Myocardial infarction (MI) and acute cerebral attacks are leading causes of morbidity and mortality.
- Understanding demographic and risk factor variations is crucial for targeted prevention and treatment strategies.
Purpose:
- To investigate the influence of age and sex on the presentation, course, and mortality of myocardial infarction and acute cerebral attacks.
- To identify specific risk factor patterns associated with different atherosclerotic complications and their outcomes.
Summary:
- Analysis of patients admitted with MI or acute cerebral attacks revealed significant differentiation by age and sex in event occurrence, disease course, and mortality.
- Retrospective evaluation identified distinct risk factor profiles: smoking predominated MI in men, while metabolic factors were key in women. Diabetes and low HDL-cholesterol correlated with MI mortality in both sexes.
- Hypertension and hyperuricemia were linked to cerebral hemorrhage mortality in men, whereas hypertension and diabetes were associated in women. Lethal cerebral malacia showed different patterns, with smoking and hyperuricemia in men, and hypertension and hyperuricemia in women.
- The study concludes that severe atherosclerosis and mortality result from a cumulative effect of multiple risk factors, where individual parameters appear somewhat interchangeable.
Impact:
- Provides insights into sex- and age-specific risk factor profiles for major cardiovascular events.
- Highlights the complex interplay of multiple risk factors in predicting atherosclerotic complications and mortality.
- Informs the development of personalized risk assessment tools and preventative measures for myocardial infarction and stroke.
Abstract:
Examination of all patients who had been admitted with myocardial infarction or with acute cerebral attacks to a medical department within one year reveals differentiation by age and by sex of these events. Age and sex differentiate the patients also with regard to course and mortality of the disease. Retrospective evaluation reveals specific patterns of risk factors for specific atherosclerotic complications. There is a prevalence of smoking in myocardial infarction of men while metabolic parameters predominate atherosclerotic complications in women. Diabetes and low HDL-cholesterol correlate with the incidence of mortality of myocardial infarction in men and women. Mortality in cerebral hemorrhage of men is associated with hypertension and hyperuricemia and the same atherosclerotic complication in women correlates with hypertension and diabetes. The pattern of risk factors in cerebral malacia with a lethal course differs from that in lethal cerebral hemorrhage. In men it is dominated by smoking and by hyperuricemia and in women by hypertension and by hyperuricemia. Finally, it is not the single risk factor that predisposes for atherosclerotic complications and for the mortality incidence of these diseases but it rather seems that the total of several risk factors results in severe atherosclerosis. In this pattern of risk factors single parameters seem to be exchangeable by others.