Preliminary results from a study presented at the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) annual meeting (31 August–4 September, Amsterdam, The Netherlands) indicates that a high-sensitive troponin test could be used to improve the diagnosis and prognosis of patients presenting with symptoms of myocardial infarction. It could be particularly beneficial for women, who may have different presenting symptoms to men and are often under-diagnosed.
The on-going study, which is being conducted by researchers at the University of Edinburgh, is evaluating Abbott’s Architect Stat high-sensitive troponin-I (hsTnI) test, which received CE Mark in January 2013. According to a press release, the hsTnI test can measure very low levels of this protein, which is especially important for women (who often have lower levels of troponin than men).
At the ESC meeting, researchers shared data from the first 1,126 patients of the study presenting with symptoms of a myocardial infarction. Early findings demonstrate that women have lower peak levels of troponin than men, contributing to the under-diagnosis and therefore under-treatment of myocardial infarction for women.
“Whilst men and women are just as likely to present to the emergency department with chest pain, currently men are twice as likely to be diagnosed with a heart attack. By using the Abbott high sensitive troponin test and different diagnostic thresholds for men and women, the frequency of diagnosis of heart attacks in women increased and was comparable to men,” said Nicholas Mills, one of the key study authors and cardiologist, University of Edinburgh, Scotland. “The findings of our study, when completed, could change the way we diagnose heart attacks in women, potentially reducing inequalities in the treatment and outcomes, and enabling everyone to receive the best care.”
When completed in 2016, this study will include more than 25,000 patients across 10 centres in Scotland, making it one of the largest studies to evaluate the impact of high sensitive troponin tests on patient care. The study was funded by a special project grant from the British Heart Foundation with Abbott providing the Architect Stat hsTnl assay.
