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(Circulation. 2002;106:e9001.)
© 2002 American Heart Association, Inc.

Cardiovascular News

Ruth SoRelle, MPH

Circulation Newswriter

An extract of the first 250 words of the full text is provided, because this article has no abstract.

Interleukin-18 in Serum Predicts Mortality

Interleukin-18 (IL-18), which plays a central role in the "inflammatory cascade," is also a strong independent predictor of death from cardiovascular causes in patients with coronary artery disease, according to researchers led by Stefan Blankenberg, MD, of Johannes Gutenberg-University in Mainz, Germany, and INSERM U515, Faculté de Médecine Pitié-Salpétrière, in a report appearing in this week’s issue of Circulation (Circulation. 2002;106:24–30).

In this prospective study of 1229 patients with coronary artery disease, the researchers measured baseline concentrations of IL-18 and monitored patients for a mean of 3.9 years. During that time, 95 of the patients died of cardiovascular causes. The patients who died had median serum IL-18 concentrations of 68.4 pg/mL compared with 58.7 pg/mL in those who survived—a significant difference. Even after adjusting for confounding factors, IL-18 remained a strong predictor of mortality in patients with coronary artery disease, regardless of what their status was at the time they were admitted to the hospital. "This finding strongly supports the possibility, already suggested by experimental work, that inhibiting IL-18 might constitute a new therapeutic strategy for plaque stabilization," the researchers concluded.

Health Status Predicts Outcome
Low scores on the Seattle Angina Questionnaire, a disease-specific health status measurement for patients with coronary artery disease, were associated with increased risk of mortality and hospital admission for acute coronary syndrome in a study led by John A. Spertus, MD, MPH, of Mid America Heart Institute and University of Missouri–Kansas City (Circulation. 2002;106:43–49). The 5558 patients who enrolled in the study were recruited from . . . [Full Text of this Article]