Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to determine the risk factors and the prevalence of heart failure (HF) complicating myocardial infarction (MI) at King Abdulaziz University Hospital in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Methods: A retrospective study was conducted on a convenient sample of patients diagnosed with HF from February to August’ 2022. Patients aged 18-70 years at the time of diagnosis were included. Data about patients’ demographics, body mass index, smoking, chronic diseases, arrhythmias, ischemic cardiovascular events, arteries occluded, infarct location, peak troponin level, ST-elevated MI or non-ST elevated MI history, intervention, and follow-ups were collected.
Results: The mean age of the studied 307 HF patients was 56.6 ± 10.15 years and 61.6% were males. Of them, 106 (34.5%) had associated MI. Only 16.3% were current smokers and 94.1% had comorbidities, most commonly hypertension (81%) and diabetes (75.1%). The majority (68.1%) had a reduced ejection fraction (≤40%) and the mean number of previous MI was 1.34 ± 0.77 and the mean peak troponin level was 7.79 ± 24.47. MI was significantly higher among males, smokers, and hypertensive patients, those with reduced ejection fraction or a higher peak troponin level. The multivariate logistic regression analysis found that having no renal failure and having a high peak troponin level were risk factors for MI among studied patients.
Conclusion: The prevalence of HF complicating MI is high among studied patients. Assessing risk factors of MI among HF patients is needed for proper management to decrease MI risk.

Key words: Heart failure, myocardial infarction, complicating, incidence, risk.