[Clinical characteristics and prognosis of young (<35 years) patients with acute ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction]

Objective: To analyze the risk factors and clinical characteristics as well as long-term prognosis of young patients (aged 18-35 years) with acute ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). Methods: In this retrospective study, from January 2007 to December 2017, STEMI patients who were hospitalized in Beijing Anzhen Hospital, Capital Medical University and younger than 45 years old were collected. Patients were divided to the 18-35 years old group and 36-44 years old group. The basic information of patients, clinical laboratory results, surgical information and discharge diagnosis of enrolled patients were extracted from the electronic medical record system. Subgroup analysis on STEMI patients aged 18 to 35 years was performed to compare the clinical features and outcome of patients with normal coronary angiography or stenotic coronary angiography. Results: 496 patients (20.3%) were between 18 and 35 years old, 480 cases (96.8%) were men, and 371 cases (74.8%) were smokers. The proportion of hypertension and diabetes was lower, but percent of obese (122 cases (43.3%)), level of total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), uric acid and homocysteine ​​(Hcy) were significantly higher in patients aged 18 to 35 years compared with STEMI patients aged 36 to 44 years (all P<0.05). In the 18-35 years old group, there were 53 patients (10.7%) with normal coronary angiography and 443 patients (89.3%) with stenosis. The age, proportion of hypertension and diabetes, TC, LDL-C, and triglyceride (TG) levels were lower in the normal coronary angiography group than those in the coronary artery stenosis group (all P<0.05). The main coronary artery lesions were single vessel lesions (263 cases (59.4%)), and the main culprit vessels were left anterior descending artery lesions (238 cases (53.7%)). The follow-up time was 7.0 (4.0, 10.0) years, cardiovascular events were reported in 62 patients (18.9%), of which 14 patients (3.2%) died. The survival rate of patients without cardiovascular events in normal coronary angiography group was higher than that in stenosis group (P=0.029). Multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that diabetes (HR=2.713, 95%CI 1.479-4.976, P=0.001) and dyslipidemia (HR=2.819, 95%CI 1.564-5.079, P=0.001) were independent risk factors for recurrence of cardiovascular events in adult STEMI patients aged 18 to 35 years. Conclusions: STEMI patients aged 18 to 35 years were featured by male sex, obese and smokers. The proportion of hypertension and diabetes was low, while the levels of LDL-C, uric acid and Hcy were high in these patients. Coronary artery stenosis was common, and the stenosis was more likely to occur in the left anterior descending branch. Patients with normal coronary angiography had a better prognosis than those with stenosis. Diabetes and hyperlipidemia increased the risk of recurrent cardiovascular events.