Coronary Artery Disease in Patients Aged 30 and Younger

: Twenty-four male patients aged 18-30 (mean = 27.4) years were catheterized either after myocardial infarction (22 patients) or because of angina pectoris (2 patients). In this highly-selected group, 18 of 24 smoked but only 5 had elevated cholesterol levels. Of 14 patients with anterior myocardial infarction (AMI), 7 had a significant left anterior descending obstruction while the other 7 had nonsignificant or no coronary stenosis. In 8 patients with inferior MI (IMI), 4 had significant multivessel disease. Five of 6 patients with multivessel disease smoked while 4 had hypercholesterolemia. Risk factors were absent in 3 of 16 patients with single or no coronary lesions. We conclude that angina pectoris and inferior MI carry high risk of multivessel coronary disease; there is often one or more risk factor in this subgroup. Finally, routine catheterization in young patients with AMI is not warranted.