Mortality in Patients With Microvascular Disease

Patients with chest pain/ischemic cardiac disease and normal coronary arteriography are thought to have a benign prognosis despite diminished quality of life. Many patients with hypertension fall into this group, at least in the early stage of their disease. Whether abnormalities in coronary flow reserve in these patients are associated with increased morbidity and mortality is unknown. One hundred sixty-eight patients with chest pain/ischemic cardiac disease and normal coronary angiograms who underwent invasive measures of coronary flow reserve were followed longitudinally. Mortality and quality of life were ascertained by query of the national death index and telephone administration of standardized questionnaires. Patient follow-up occurred at a mean of 8.5 years. In the abnormal coronary flow reserve group, 12 deaths (20%) were documented in 60 patients compared with eight out of 108 patients (7%; p=0.016) with normal coronary flow reserve. Coronary flow reserve did not predict impairment in functional health status in long-term follow-up. Thus, invasive measures of coronary flow reserve in patients with chest pain/ischemic cardiac disease and normal coronary angiograms predicted increased mortality. Surviving patients with chest pain/ischemic cardiac disease and normal coronary angiograms have significant morbidity.