Ischemic evaluation in patients presenting with hypertensive emergency / urgency and acute systolic heart failure: Is coronary angiography required for all?

Abstract Background Patients presenting with hypertensive urgency / emergency (HUE) often have systolic heart failure(SHF). Coronary angiography is routinely done for these patients to rule out obstructive coronary artery disease (Obs-CAD). We performed a retrospective study to investigate predictors of ObsCAD in this population. Methods Patients who underwent angiography to investigate SHF and had hospital admission(s) for HUE in the preceding 6 months were included in the study. Chart review was performed to obtain demographic, clinical and imaging / angiographic data. A risk score was formulated based on multivariable logistic regression analysis. Results 205 patients [age 58.9 ± 14.4 years; 62.4% male; 39.5% diabetic; median EF 25% (Inter Quartile Range: 11)] were included in the study. 33.1% patients ( n  = 68) had obs-CAD. Patients with obs-CAD were older, diabetic, more likely to have a history of stroke, echocardiographic regional wall motion abnormalities (RWMA) while African Americans were less likely to have obs-CAD. On multivariable analysis, only non-African American race (OR: 2.18; CI: 1.08–4.4) and RWMA (OR: 5.62; CI: 2.47–12.81) remained significant predictors of obs-CAD. A risk score (RANDS) from 0 to 9 was formulated which had a c-statistic of 0.75 with a sensitivity and specificity of 84% and 53% for predicting obsCAD respectively. Conclusion Our results suggest that only a minority of patients with HUE and SHF have obs-CAD. A simple risk score may be used to stratify this population and lower risk individuals may be screened with non-invasive testing instead of invasive catheterization. These results should be validated in large registry populations.