A new study from the University of Edinburgh found more than two-thirds of people who have a type of heart attack not caused by a blood clot also may have undiagnosed heart disease.
They focused on people who had what’s known as Type 2 heart attacks, which result from the strain caused by an illness such as infections or fast heart rates that can lower blood pressure or oxygen in the blood.
The team discovered the participants also had conditions such as narrowed arteries or weakened heart muscles that were frequently undiagnosed.
Fewer than a third of those patients were being treated for heart disease.
The study is published in Circulation and was conducted by Dr. Andrew Chapman et al.
In the more commonly recognized type of heart attack, called Type 1 myocardial infarction, the blood supply to the heart is disrupted, usually by a blood clot, causing heart muscle in that area to die.
A Type 2 myocardial infarction occurs when the heart muscle is damaged from the strain of not getting enough oxygen through the impaired blood supply.
In recent years, highly sensitive blood tests that detect levels of troponin, a protein released into the blood when heart muscle is damaged, have made it easier to quickly diagnose heart attacks.
Up to half of all people with elevated troponin levels are believed to have experienced Type 2 heart attacks.
Yet less than one-third of these patients are managed by cardiologists and fewer than 20% are examined for underlying cardiovascular disease.
In the study, the team tested 93 people, averaging 66 years old, who had been diagnosed with a Type 2 heart attack.
Advanced heart imaging tests showed 68% had signs of coronary artery disease – a buildup of plaque in the arteries. Among them, 3 in 5 had been undiagnosed.
And 34% of the full group had left ventricular systolic dysfunction, a weakening of the heart muscle that can lead to heart failure or sudden death.
This condition had been undiagnosed in 84% of the patients who had it. Only 10 patients had normal heart images.
The team says failing to diagnose these conditions are likely contributing to the high death rates experienced by people with Type 2 heart attacks.
One reason Type 2 heart attacks are so difficult to diagnose – or treat – is because they can be caused by so many different illnesses and conditions, including arrhythmias, hemorrhage or sepsis.
And because these conditions are so different, it’s difficult to set up or conduct trials that explore treatment options.
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Previous research has shown that some drugs from weight loss may prevent heart attack and stroke.
In a recent study published in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology, UT Southwestern researchers found a commonly prescribed weight-loss drug called liraglutide could benefit heart health.
In the study, 185 participants were given a once-daily injection of liraglutide over 40 weeks of treatment.
The team found in people who are overweight or have obesity combined with high heart risk, once-daily liraglutide combined with lifestyle interventions effectively lowered two types of fat that have been linked to heart problems: visceral fat (belly fat) and ectopic fat.
There was a big decrease in visceral fat in patients without diabetes but who were overweight or had obesity.
The relative effects of liraglutide on fat reduction were two-fold greater in the abdominal tissues and six-fold greater in the liver than seen on overall body weight.
These results suggest liraglutide treatment may effectively lower the risk of chronic disease in overweight and obese people.
In another study published in The Lancet, McMaster University researchers found a combination therapy of aspirin, statins and at least two blood pressure drugs can cut the risk of heart disease and stroke by more than half.
In the study, researchers gleaned their findings from combining data from three big studies on a total of 18,000 people who followed for about 5 years.
The fixed-dose combination (FDC) therapies were examined both with and without aspirin in an analysis of more than 18,000 patients without prior heart problems.
The team found FDCs including aspirin cut the risk of heart attacks by 53%, stroke by 51%, and deaths from heart causes by 49%.
The benefits are consistent at different blood pressure levels, cholesterol levels and with or without diabetes, but larger benefits may occur in older people.
The team says the demonstration of a low-cost approach using fixed-dose combinations to reduce heart disease by about 50% is extraordinary and represents a huge opportunity to tackle the condition globally.
If you care about heart attacks, please read studies about how to prevent heart attack and stroke effectively, and common pain killer could increase heart disease and strokes in some people.
For more information about heart health, please see recent studies about how magnesium helps protect your heart rhythm, and results showing drinking coffee this way may prevent heart disease, stroke.
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