Heat-related Myocardial Infarction May be Associated With Cardiovascular Medications – Consultant360

People that take antiplatelet and beta-response blocker medications to reduce the risk of a myocardial infarction (MI) may be at an increased risk during hot-weather events, according to a new study.1

The research was conducted using data from a registry of MI cases that took place in Augsburg, Germany from 2001 to 2014 during the region's warm season (May to September). A total of 2495 cases of acute MI were used in the study.

For data analysis, the heat exposure on days when a patient had a MI was compared with non-MI days during that same month, which acted as the control. The authors found that the chances of a heat-related non-fatal MI were increased by 63% among users of anti-platelet medication and increased by 75% for users of beta-receptor blockers. For non-users, the risk was lower and a MI was less likely to occur.

The authors noted that the chance of a MI was increased among patients aged 25 to 59 years who had a lower prevalence of pre-existing coronary heart disease (CHD) than patients aged 60 to 70 years who had a higher prevalence of CHD.

"We hypothesize that some of the medications may make it hard to regulate body temperature, lead author Kai Chen said in a press release.2

While looking at the data, the authors found that most other types of heart medications did not show a connection to heat-related MIs when compared with these 2 medications. The only exception was statins.

Further research is needed to disentangle effect modification by medication use from effect modification by pre-existing CHD, the authors concluded.

Jessica Ganga

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Heat-related Myocardial Infarction May be Associated With Cardiovascular Medications - Consultant360