Objectives:

To determine the prevalence of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and other etiologies in patients with elevated troponin, to associate troponin values with the etiology, and to define the optimal cut-off point to differentiate AMI from other causes.

Methods:

All patients with elevated troponin who were hospitalized within 1 year and registered in the REGIBAR study were included. Magnitude was analyzed with the highest dose value/baseline value. The ROC curve and the Youden index were used to determine the optimal cut-off point.

Results:

A total of 150 cases were included (age: 66.3 ± 13.8 years, 71% male); 109 AMI (age: 71.1 years, 63.5% male), 18 (12%) with other cardiac causes, 15 (10%) with non-cardiac causes, and 8 (5.3%) with no evident etiology. The optimal cut-off point for troponin dose/baseline value to discriminate AMI was >3.15.

Conclusions:

A 73% of inpatients with elevated troponin were AMI cases (>3.15 times the cut-off point). Heart failure was the second most common cause of elevated troponin.