Prevalence of Cardiovascular Risk Factors Among Patients with Acute Myocardial Infarction and New Left Bundle Branch Block in North East Romania

The prevalence of coronary artery disease, a major contributor to cardiovascular disease, is related to the increasing prevalence of modifiable risk factors. The aim of our study was to determine the risk factors for acute myocardial infarction among patients from North East Romania. We evaluated patients with acute myocardial infarction with or without left bundle-branch block, hospitalized in Georgescu Institute of Cardiovascular Disease Iasi for three years. The results of our study show that patients with acute myocardial infarction and new left bundle branch block have a more recent history of hypertension, dyslipidemia and smoker status compared to patients without left bundle branch block. Nearly two thirds of patients included in the study (65.47%) had an elevated cholesterol level, with a high prevalence of dyslipidemia in patients with myocardial infarction and new left bundle branch block. More than two-thirds of patients with new left bundle branch block had a history of arterial hypertension (69.04% vs. 50.0%, p = 0.354), especially grade 2 hypertension, with a slight predominance in those with new left bundle branch block, but without statistically significant differences between the two groups (45.23% vs. 30.95%, p = 0.358). Early identification of modifiable risk factors is vital to set the strategy for prevention and special attention must be paid to smoking. An adequate control of cardiovascular risk factors would result in a significant reduction of coronary events in patients from the North East part of Romania.