Effect of Elevated Pulmonary Artery Systolic Pressure on Short-Term Prognosis in Patients With Acute Myocardial Infarction

Pulmonary artery systolic pressure (PASP) may increase because of cardiac alterations that result in increased filling pressures after acute myocardial infarction (AMI). We hypothesized that PASP might be a useful maker to predict the risk of cardiac death after AMI. We carried out a retrospective study from 2013 to 2017 involving 5401 patients with AMI. Patients were grouped according to their admission PASP result, and the primary end point was cardiac death in 6 months after AMI. Pulmonary artery systolic pressure was associated with age, AMI site, Killip classification, and decreased ejection fraction. After adjustments for clinical and echocardiographic parameters in a Cox model, PASP was found to be significantly related to cardiac death. In receiver operating characteristic analysis, PASP >30 mm Hg had a sensitivity of 59.8% and a specificity of 62.5% for predicting 6-month cardiac death after AMI. In conclusion, PASP at the index admission may be a useful marker predicting short-term cardiac death. These results have implications for future research and management of patients with AMI.