Life (Jun 2024)

Myocardial Bridging Increases the Risk of Adverse Cardiovascular Events in Patients without Coronary Atherosclerosis

  • Tsung-Lin Yang,
  • Wen-Rui Hao,
  • Chun-Chao Chen,
  • Yu-Ann Fang,
  • Hsin-Bang Leu,
  • Ju-Chi Liu,
  • Shing-Jong Lin,
  • Jiun-Lin Horng,
  • Chun-Ming Shih

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/life14070811
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 14, no. 7
p. 811

Abstract

Read online

Background: Myocardial bridging (MB) is a congenital coronary anomaly and an important cause of chest pain. The long-term effects of MB on cardiovascular events remain elusive. Methods: We used the National Health Insurance Research Database of Taiwan to conduct an analysis. All patients who had undergone coronary angiography were considered for inclusion. The primary endpoint was a composite of nonfatal myocardial infarction, nonfatal ischemic stroke, and cardiovascular death. Results: We identified 10,749 patients from 2008 to 2018 and matched them with an equal number of controls by propensity-score matching. The mean follow-up period was 5.78 years. In patients without coronary artery disease, MB increased the risk of the composite endpoint (hazard ratio [HR]: 1.57, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.44–1.72, p Conclusions: The presence of MB significantly increases cardiovascular risks in patients with normal coronary vessels. Atherosclerotic coronary artery disease mitigates the effect of MB on cardiovascular outcomes. MB can be considered an insignificant coronary artery disease equivalent.

Keywords