March 12, 2021
STEMI commonly occurs in the absence of four common CV risk factors hypertension, diabetes, hypercholesterolemia, and current smoking and when it does, outcomes can be worse than those seen in the larger STEMI population, data from the SWEDEHEART registry indicate.
All-cause mortality at 30 days was significantly higher in patients without one of these standard modifiable CV risk factors (11.3% vs 7.9%; HR 1.47; 95% CI 1.37-1.57), dubbed SMuRFs by Gemma Figtree, DPhil (Royal North Shore Hospital, Sydney, Australia), and colleagues.
The disparity was exacerbated in women SMuRF-less women had the highest rate of 30-day mortality (17.6%), followed by women with traditional risk factors (11.1%). Mortality risks were lower in men, with a smaller difference between those who didn’t versus did have SMuRFs (9.3% vs 6.1%).