Combination of Site of Infarct, Unrecognized Glucose Intolerance, and Reinfarction After Acute Myocardial Infarction in Normotensive Subjects Is Determinant of the Development of Subsequent Systemic Hypertension: A Pilot Study

Background The natural history of hypertension in healthy normotensive subjects has been described in the Framingham population. We aim to study the rate of progression to hypertension in normotensive subjects after acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Methods One hundred seventy-three consecutive normotensive subjects admitted to the Coronary Care Unit with AMI were studied retrospectively with prospective follow-up 4 years after AMI. All the patients who were not known to be diabetic on admission (n = 150) underwent glucose tolerance test (GTT) at 2 months after AMI. Results Among the 15 patients (8.7%) who developed hypertension, GTT was abnormal in 75% (diabetes = 3, impaired glucose tolerance = 9). There were significantly more Indo-Asians and fewer whites in the hypertensive than in the normotesive patients but they were similar in age and gender, creatinine kinase level, and rate of thrombolysis during admission for AMI. Multiple regression analysis showed that progression to hypertension was a function of the presence of anterior AMI on admission (P = .0297), abnormal GTT (P = .0156), and subsequent MI on follow-up (P = .0122), but was independent of age, gender, smoking habit, body weight, previous MI, thrombolysis, creatinine kinase level, subsequent development of heart failure, and intake of β-adrenergic blockade or angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor. Of the hypertensive patients, 47% (n = 7) died compared to 8% (n = 13) of the normotensive subjects (P< .0001). Conclusions Progression to hypertension in normotensive subjects after AMI is determined by a combination of the site of the infarct, GTT 2 months after AMI, and subsequent development of a second MI. Systemic hypertension after AMI is associated with a high mortality.