Renin Test May Identify Heart Attack Patients

In a study of 349 patients who went to the emergency department, researchers found that plasma renin levels were 2.7 times higher in those experiencing a heart attack than in those not so diagnosed. The study, conducted at the New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center (USA), was published in the August issue of Hypertension.

The findings suggest that overactivity of the renin-angiotensin system, which makes renin, can contribute to heart attacks in both hypertensive patients and people with normal blood pressure. The researchers say that plasma renin levels in heart attack patients might be used to identify those patients who could benefit from angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors.

An additional group of 92 patients who went to the emergency department for chest pain not considered to be of cardiac origin were also measured for plasma renin activity (PRA). The researchers found that their PRA was below that of the heart attack patients in the first group but comparable to the non-heart attack patients in that group.

Our findings support and extend the existing evidence that the renin level is a powerful independent factor associated with acute myocardial infarction, said the authors of the study.