Normal findings on noninvasive cardiac assessment and the prediction of heart failure: The Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA).

Int J Cardiol

Department of Internal Medicine, Section on Cardiology, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, USA; Epidemiological Cardiology Research Center (EPICARE), Department of Epidemiology and Prevention, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, USA.

Published: December 2017

Background: It is unknown if normal findings on noninvasive cardiac assessment are able to identify individuals who are low risk for developing heart failure (HF).

Methods: We examined if normal findings on the routine electrocardiogram (ECG) and cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) were able to identify individuals who are low risk for developing HF in 4986 (mean age=62±10years; 52% women; 39% White; 13% Chinese-American; 26% Black; 22% Hispanic) participants from the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis who were free of clinically apparent HF at baseline. A normal ECG was defined as the absence of major abnormalities by Minnesota Code Classification, and a normal MRI was defined as absence of structural abnormalities and systolic dysfunction.

Results: There were 3988 (80%) participants with normal findings at baseline on both ECG and MRI, 894 (18%) who had either a normal ECG or normal MRI, and 104 (2%) who had abnormal findings on ECG and MRI. Over a median follow-up of 12.2years, 177 (3.6%) HF events occurred. Normal ECG (HR=0.41, 95%CI=0.29, 0.56) and MRI (HR=0.32, 95%CI=0.23, 0.45) were each associated with lower risk of HF compared with abnormal, and their combination was associated with a lower HF risk (HR=0.13, 95%CI=0.08, 0.21) than either in isolation.

Conclusion: Normal findings on noninvasive cardiac assessment identify individuals in whom the risk of HF is low. Further studies are needed to explore the utility of this low-risk profile in HF prevention strategies.

Download full-text PDF

Source
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5726415PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijcard.2017.08.078DOI Listing

Publication Analysis

Top Keywords

normal findings
20
findings noninvasive
12
noninvasive cardiac
12
cardiac assessment
12
identify individuals
12
normal ecg
12
normal
10
heart failure
8
multi-ethnic study
8
study atherosclerosis
8

Similar Publications

Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?

Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!