Combined use of frontal plane QRS‐T angle and platelet‐to‐lymphocyte ratio in the risk prediction of ischemic cardiomyopathy in STEMI

BACKGROUND: Frontal plane QRS-T angle (fQRS-T) and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) are highly important parameters that well-predict unfavorable outcomes in patients with ST-elevated myocardial infarction (STEMI).There are limited data on the predictive significance of ischemic cardiomyopathy (I-CMP) from the combination of fQRS-T and PLR in STEMI, compared to using fQRS-T and PLR alone. AIM: We aimed to evaluate the ability of the combination of fQRS-T and PLR routinely obtained on admission to identify STEMI patients at risk of I-CMP. METHOD: Six hundred and thirty-eight consecutive patients with STEMI who underwent primary percutaneous coronary intervention between 2018 and 2021 were included. The assessment of I-CMP was conducted through two-dimentional (2D)-echocardiography 6 weeks post-STEMI and I-CMP was defined as a left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) of 50% or less. Multivariate logistic regression analysis and receiver operating curve (ROC) analysis were performed to predict the development of I-CMP. RESULTS: In ROC analysis, the cut-off values of fQRS-T and PLR for best predicting I-CMP were 66.72° and 101.23, respectively. The model using the combination of two markers was the most powerful predictor of I-CMP risk (OR: 3.183, 95% CI: 1.971-5.139, p = .001) when included in a single variable such as high fQRS-T or high PLR (OR: 1.422, 95% CI: 0.870-0.232, p = .160). Additionally, the concomitant presence of high fQRS-T and high PLR exhibited the highest specificity (77%) for I-CMP relative to the individual presence of high fQRS-T (66%) or PLR (49%). CONCLUSION: The combination of fQRS-T and PLR, which is a simple and cost-effective risk assessment, may serve as a more reliable prognosticator for I-CMP as opposed to the use of fQRS-T and PLR alone for STEMI.