[Comparison of coronary arteriosclerosis in patients with myocardial infarction and angina pectoris].

PURPOSE

To compare the severity of the coronary heart disease and the presence of coronary risk factors between angina and myocardial infarction (MI) patients.

METHODS

We studied 62 patients with MI and 129 with angina through coronary angiography to evaluate occlusion (lesion of 99% or 100%), extent (with a score of 0-5 derived by the number of vessels affected) and severity (3 groups of different stenosis degrees). Two experiment observers blindly interpreted the angiograms.

RESULTS

Patients with MI had more occlusions (50% vs 13.2% [p < 0.01]), more severity (79% vs 54.3% with > 90% stenosis [p < 0.02]) and more extent (2.0 vs 0.87; [p < 0.001]), even when controlled for current coronary risk factors and disease duration. Smoking was the only independent risk factor related to MI (p < 0.001).

CONCLUSION

Among the studied patients, coronary heart disease extent and severity was greater in the MI group, as well as the prevalence smoking.