Performance of the ESC 0/1-h and 0/3-h algorithm for the rapid identification of myocardial infarction without ST-elevation in patients with diabetes

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) have elevated levels of high-sensitivity cardiac troponin (hs-cTn). We investigated the diagnostic performance of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) algorithms to rule out or rule in acute myocardial infarction (AMI) without ST-elevation in patients with DM. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: We prospectively enrolled 3, 681 patients with suspected AMI and stratified those by the presence of DM. The ESC 0/1-h and 0/3-h algorithms were used to calculate negative and positive predictive values (NPV, PPV). In addition, alternative cutoffs were calculated and externally validated in 2,895 patients. RESULTS: In total, 563 patients (15.3%) had DM, and 137 (24.3%) of these had AMI. When the ESC0/1-halgorithmwas used, the NPV was comparable in patients with and without DM(absolute difference [AD] 21.50 [95%CI25.95,2.96]). In contrast, the ESC 0/3-h algorithm resulted in a significantly lower NPV in patients with DM(AD 22.27 [95% CI 24.47, 20.07]). The diagnostic performance for rule-in of AMI (PPV) was comparable in both groups: 0/1-h(AD6.59[95%CI219.53,6.35]) and 0/3-h(AD1.03 [95% CI 27.63, 9.7]). Alternative cutoffs increased the PPV in both algorithms significantly, while improvements in NPV were only subtle. CONCLUSIONS: Application of the ESC 0/1-h algorithm revealed comparable safety to rule out AMI comparing patients with and without DM, while this was not observed with the ESC 0/3-h algorithm. Although alternative cutoffs might be helpful, patients with DM remain a high-risk population in whom identification of AMI is challenging and who require careful clinical evaluation.