ADVANCES IN MEDICAL SCIENCES, vol.67, no.2, pp.298-303, 2022 (SCI-Expanded)
Purpose: Despite continuous efforts to address classical risk factors for atherosclerosis, the battle to control the disease is far from over and atherosclerosis is still a major factor in all-cause mortality. To investigate the relations between early diagnosis and severity of coronary atherosclerosis we examined vaspin and nesfatin-1 levels, and the presence of fragmented QRS (fQRS) in admission electrocardiograms. Materials and methods: We divided 168 patients into asymptomatic control (18%), < 50% coronary artery stenosis (28%), > 50% stenosis (31%) and myocardial infarction (MI) (23%) groups. Patients were also evaluated in anatomically significant (> 50%stenosis thorn MI) and non-significant atherosclerosis (control thorn < 50%stenosis) groups. Vaspin and nesfatin-1 levels were measured using ELISA methods. Results: Vaspin in MI and > 50% stenosis groups was lower than in other groups (p < 0.001). Nesfatin-1 in MI and > 50% stenosis groups was lower only than in < 50%stenosis group (p0.007). The presence of fQRS was higher in MI and > 50% stenosis groups than other groups (p < 0.001). In the anatomically significant atherosclerosis group, vaspin, nesfatin-1 and left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) values were lower while Gensini score and the presence of fQRS were higher (for all p < 0.001). Lower vaspin levels and fQRS were related to in-hospital mortality (p < 0.001 and p 1/4 0.02,respectively). Logistic regression analysis showed that male gender, dia-betes mellitus, smoking, family history, lower LVEF, lower vaspin and fQRS were defined as independent risk factors for anatomically significant atherosclerosis (p 1/4 0.001). Conclusions: Our results indicate that low vaspin and fQRS were found to be novel independent risk factors for anatomically significant atherosclerosis and were predictors of mortality.