Association between Cardiologist Consultation and Mortality of Stable Patients with Elevated Cardiac Troponin at Admission

Abstract

Elevated cardiac troponin (cTn) showed associations with mortality even in stable patients, but management has not been established. We aimed to investigate whether consultation to cardiologists could reduce mortality of stable patients with cTn elevation at admission. We identified 1329 patients with elevated cTn level at hospitalization from outpatient clinic to any department other than cardiology or cardiac surgery between April 2010 and December 2018. The patients were divided into two groups according to cardiologist consultation at admission. For primary outcome, mortality during one year was compared in the crude and propensity-score-matched populations. In 1329 patients, 397 (29.9%) were consulted to cardiologists and 932 (70.1%) were not. Mortality during the first year was significantly lower in patients consulted to cardiologists compared with those who were not (9.8% vs. 14.2%; hazard ratio (HR), 0.50; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.35–0.72; p p = 0.01). Cardiologist consultation may be associated with lower mortality in stable patients with cTn elevation at admission. Further studies are needed to identify effective management strategies for stable patients with elevated cTn.

Keywords

• cardiologists
• mortality
• referral and consultation
• troponin