Trace elements in serum from Pakistani patients with acute and chronic ischemic heart disease and hypertension.

We examined sera from 159 patients with ischemic heart disease and hypertension and from 50 apparently healthy control subjects for content of trace elements, cholesterol, triglyceride, and enzymes. Concentrations of copper, cobalt, cholesterol, and triglyceride were increased in all patients, but calcium was decreased in patients with hypertension, acute myocardial ischemia, and acute myocardial infarction. Also accompanying acute myocardial infarction were decreased concentrations of zinc and iron but increases in nickel, aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, and lactate dehydrogenase. Magnesium concentration was lower in patients with acute myocardial ischemia. In acute myocardial infarction, the concentrations of copper, zinc, and iron were higher after 21-30 h (as compared with the values at 0-10 h), by which time concentrations of calcium, magnesium, cobalt, and alanine aminotransferase had decreased. The variation in concentration of trace elements in serum from cases of ischemic heart disease and hypertension corresponds to the severity of the disorder.