Study Reveals Increased Risk of Myocardial Infarction in Cold Weather for MINOCA Patients

To fill this knowledge gap, Renjie Chen, Fudan University, Shanghai, China, and colleagues conducted a nationwide, time-stratified, case-crossover investigation from 2015 to 2021 using the Chinese Cardiovascular Association database- chest Pain Center Registry. Meteorological data were sourced from a well-established satellite-based model, with daily exposure levels assigned based on each patient's onset of myocardial infarction. A conditional logistic regression model, integrated with distributed lag non-linear models spanning 10 days, was employed to assess the exposure-response relationships.

The study led to the following findings:

• A total of 83,784 MINOCA patients and 918,730 MI-CAD patients participated in the study.
• The risk of both conditions related to low temperatures was evident starting at a 2-day lag and continued for up to 1 week.
• Extremely low temperatures were linked to a notably higher odds ratio (OR) for MINOCA, with an OR of 1.58, compared to MI-CAD, which showed an unmatched OR of 1.32 and an equally matched OR of 1.25 when adjusted for age and sex, using reference temperatures of 30°C, 35°C, and 30°C.
• Stronger associations with MINOCA were identified among patients aged ≥65, females, and those living in the southern regions.
• There were no significant differences in the effects of high temperatures on MINOCA versus MI-CAD.

"The nationwide study emphasizes the heightened vulnerability of MINOCA patients to low ambient temperatures in contrast to MI-CAD patients," the researchers concluded.

Reference:

Huang, J., He, Q., Jiang, Y., Wong, J. M., Li, J., Liu, J., Wang, R., Chen, R., Dai, Y., & Ge, J. Low ambient temperature and incident myocardial infarction with or without obstructive coronary arteries: A Chinese nationwide study. European Heart Journal. https://doi.org/10.1093/eurheartj/ehae711