Clinical study of myocardial infarction in young patients

Abstract Two groups of patients, aged 40 or younger or between 41 and 60, with acute myocardial infarction (MI), were studied to compare the incidence of MI in persons of working age. In both groups, the following risk factors were considered: family history, arterial hypertension, obesity, diabetes, dyslipidemia, cigarette smoking, the modalities of acute MI occurrence, the infarct site, the presence or absence of the Q square on electrocardiogram, the presence of pain before or after acute MI, arrhythmias in the acute stage or during hospitalization, and the mortality rate during the first 10 days of hospitalization. No significant differences related to age, individual risk factors, and clinical development of acute MI were noted. The younger patients were found to be heavy smokers, leading to the conclusion that smoking promotes the early development of MI. When smoking was present as the only risk factor, the group of younger patients were the heavier smokers. When three or more risk factors were present, all of the younger patients were smokers, and a significant number were heavy smokers. Thus even in patients with multiple risk factors, smoking promotes the early development of MI. Smoking more than 20 cigarettes a day has been found to cause changes in lipid metabolism and the mechanism of hemostasis. These changes accelerate the atherogenic process caused by risk factors such as dyslipidemia, diabetes, obesity, and hypertension.