High levels of troponin, a protein usually used to diagnose heart attacks, could lead to an increased risk of death, according to a study conducted by the University of Southampton (UK).
- High levels of a heart attack marker protein are linked to an increased risk of death, researchers say.
- Patients with high troponin levels saw their risk of death increase by 76%.
- Deaths were due not only to cardiovascular diseases but also to cancers.
Protein could be a marker of medium-term survival, new study published in the journal finds Heart.
Indeed, scientists have found that high levels of troponin, a protein normally used to rule out the possibility of a heart attack in patients with chest pain, are linked to an increased risk of death.
Troponin is a marker of heart disease
Elevated troponin levels are often observed in hospitalized patients who do not show specific signs of heart attack, and this, without it being known exactly why, explain the authors.
This is what scientists have sought to understand with this new study on the survival of 20,000 hospitalized patients. They had all had a troponin blood test for some reason between June and August 2017 at a major English teaching hospital, regardless of the initial clinical indication. Their average age was 61 and more than half (53%) were women.
According to the results, the rate of cardiac troponin was high in 1,085 patients (a little less than 5.5%). Some 1,782 patients (9%) died after one year, and 2,825 (14%) just over two years (809 days) later.
Troponin drastically increases the risk of death
The risk of death was almost four times greater in patients with an elevated troponin test result (45%) than in those with a result within the normal range (12%).
Further analysis controlling for age, gender and kidney function further revealed that abnormally high troponin levels were associated with a 76% increased risk of death.
These were not only cardiovascular diseases (13%), but also other causes such as cancer (46%). “This study suggests that troponin may play a more general role as a mid-term prognostic marker outside of heart attack“, conclude the authors of the study.
