Elevated high‐sensitive troponin T in negative stress test individuals

Background The exercise ECG stress test (EST) is still the first step of work‐up in intermediate risk patients in many clinical scenarios. High‐sensitive cardiac troponin T (hs‐cTnT) elevation is related to future cardiovascular events in the general population and in patients with ischaemic heart disease. The relation between these 2 tests is not well described. Materials and methods A total of 2780 participants from the Tel‐Aviv Medical Center Inflammation Survey cohort (mean age 49 years, 79% men) were analysed. Multiple physiologic and metabolic parameters including hs‐cTnT were collected. All participants completed an EST manually reviewed by a cardiologist. Results A positive EST was documented in 224 subjects (8%). The majority (91%) of participants with hs‐cTnT levels of 5‐14 ng/L had a negative EST as well as 89.3% of subjects with levels >14 ng/L. The proportion of subjects with a positive EST and detectable hs‐cTnT levels (>5 ng/L) was not significantly greater compared to those with a negative EST (53.1% vs 46.2%, respectively, P = .09). Conclusion Among subjects referred for EST as part of an annual health survey, we found no significant association between EST results to hs‐cTnT detection.