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Background: A fragmented QRS complex (fQRS) is caused by conduction abnormalities of the ventricle secondary to myocardial ischemia and/or scar in patients with myocardial infarction. However, the implications of the fQRS in the development of coronary artery disease with myocardial ischemia in those without a scar remain unknown., Methods: We studied electrocardiograms (ECGs) obtained from 150 patients (60.5 ± 8.5 years, 102 men) with myocardial ischemia, which was confirmed by performing both, a nuclear exercise stress test and coronary angiography. We also studied ECGs obtained from 601 patients (58.5 ± 10.0 years, 315 men) who showed a negative nuclear exercise stress test (control group). Patients in whom the nuclear exercise stress test showed a myocardial scar were excluded., Results: An fQRS was more commonly observed in patients with myocardial ischemia (n = 48, 32.0%) than in the control group (n = 133, 22.1%) (P = 0.011). The sensitivity, specificity, positive, and negative predictive values of fQRS in diagnosing myocardial ischemia were 32.0, 77.9, 26.5, and 82.1%, respectively. The fQRS (odds ratio 1.580, 95% confidence interval 1.020-2.446, P = 0.040) was an independent predictor of myocardial ischemia after adjusting for age, sex, current smoking habits, ST-T changes on ECG, as well as histories of hypertension, diabetes, and dyslipidemia. Moreover, the fQRS showed an incremental prognostic value over conventional risk factors (χ 2  = 5, P = 0.032) and over a combination of conventional factors and ST-T changes (χ 2  = 9, P = 0.014)., Conclusions: The fQRS is a moderately sensitive and independent predictor of myocardial ischemia., (© 2018 The Authors. Clinical Cardiology Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Background: Temporal trends of evidence-based optimal medical therapy (OMT) at discharge after acute myocardial infarction (AMI) have not been investigated in recent years., Hypothesis: OMT should have been increased in AMI and gap between guidelines and practices in its use should have been narrowed., Methods: We examined discharge medications of 17,578 post-MI patients who had no documented contraindications to antiplatelet agents, β-blockers, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, or statins across a 6-year period (divided into subperiods of November 2005 to December 2006 [period 1], 2007 [period 2], 2008 [period 3], 2009 [period 4], 2010 [period 5], and January to June 2011 [period 6]) in the Korean AMI Registry. OMT was defined as use of all 4 indicated medications., Results: Marked increases in OMT (48.6% to 63.2%) were seen irrespective of age and sex, mainly attributed to marked increases in the use of β-blockers (70.3% to 83.7%) and statins (76.9% to 82.6%) from period 1 to period 6. The gap in use of OMT between men and women narrowed over time between the first and second 3 periods, but not between the young and the elderly. Advanced age (odds ratio [OR]: 0.88, P = 0.04) was independently associated with underuse of OMT. Adjusted ORs for OMT from period 1 to period 6 were as follows: 1, 1.14 (P = 0.024), 1.21 (P = 0.001), 1.40 (P < 0.001), 1.47 (P < 0.001), and 1.69 (P < 0.001), respectively., Conclusions: Despite gradual increase in OMT over time, the gap between guidelines and practices in use of OMT continues to exist., (© 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Background: The incremental predictive value of red cell distribution width (RDW) for major adverse cardiac events (MACEs) has not been fully investigated in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI)., Hypothesis: The aim of this study was to determine the incremental value of RDW to the established risk factors in predicting clinical outcomes after AMI., Methods: Between November 2005 and January 2010, 1596 patients with AMI (1070 male; mean age, 64.5 ± 11.9 years) were analyzed in this study. Baseline levels of RDW were measured at the time of admission. The 12-month MACEs were defined as death and nonfatal MI., Results: The RDW levels were significantly higher in patients with 12-month MACEs (13.8 ± 1.3% vs 13.3 ± 1.2%, P < 0.001). In a Cox proportional hazards model, RDW (hazard ratio [HR]: 1.19, P = 0.016) was an independent predictor for 12-month MACEs. Adding RDW to established risk factors and hemoglobin levels significantly improved prediction for 12-month MACEs, as shown by the net reclassification improvement (0.297; P = 0.012) and integrated discrimination improvement (0.0143; P = 0.042). The likelihood ratio test showed that RDW added incremental predictive value to the combination of hemoglobin and established risk factors (P = 0.005). Patients were categorized into 4 groups according to quartiles of RDW at baseline. Adjusted HRs for 12-month MACEs were 1 (RDW ≤12.6%, reference), 4.24 (RDW 12.7%-13.1%, P = 0.01), 4.36 (RDW 13.2%-13.9%, P = 0.008), and 6.18 (RDW 13.2%-13.9%, P = 0.001), respectively., Conclusions: In post-myocardial infarction patients, baseline RDW levels at admission could provide incremental predictive value to established risk factors for predicting 12-month MACEs., (© 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)