Myocardial infarction in the young.

An increasing number of patients under 40 years of age are being hospitalized with the diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction. This is partly due to the increased prevalance of risk factors for atherosclerosis in the younger age group; especially increased incidence of impaired fasting glucose, high triglyceride, low high-density lipoprotein levels and increased waist to hip ratio. However, non-atherosclerotic coronary artery disease or hypercoagulability should also be investigated or at least suspected in the younger patients. The pathophysiology of different clinical conditions and disease states which cause acute coronary syndromes in the young patients are reviewed, and the diagnostic modalities and therapatic options for these conditions are briefly discussed by searching for "premature atherosclerosis", "hypercoagulable states", "risk factors for atherosclerosis in youth", "novel risk factors for atherosclerosis", "non-atherosclerotic coronary artery diseases" in PubMed.