New Way to Predict Death After Heart Attack

[Angel]

A new way to predict death after a heart attack may be better than the current measures used.

Researchers from Munich, Germany, found heart attack survivors who have a hard time slowing down their heart rate have a higher mortality risk. They say this is a better predictor of death than the gold-standard -- measuring the extent of impairment of the left ventricle of the heart.

Heart rate varies as a person inhales and exhales. It can also speed up and slow down as arterial pressure decreases and increases. The variations are considered a marker for well-being.

"Deceleration capacity substantially improves risk prediction in survivors of acute myocardial infarction [heart attack]...," says George Schmidt, M.D., Professor of Cardiology at the Munich University of Germany. "Our findings show that this new measure can detect high-risk patients even if the current gold-standard measure fails."

Previous research has revealed implanting a defibrillator can reduce the risk of death in patients who have had a heart attack.