High-sensitivity cardiac troponin I: is ethnicity relevant?

AimsTo evaluate 99th percentile upper reference limits (URLs) and investigate ethnic differences for the Abbott Architect high-sensitivity cardiac troponin I (hs-cTnI) in a middle-aged to elderly cosmopolitan population.MethodsIn subjects without cardiovascular disease and after outlier exclusion, data on hs-cTnI from 149 white men, 150 white women, 150 South Asian (SA) men and 150 SA women in their sixth, seventh and eight decades were analysed. Each ethnicity–gender–decade subgroup consisted of 50 patients except white men in their sixth decade (n=49).ResultsThe overall, women and men hs-cTnI 99th percentile URLs were 22.1, 17.9 and 24.8 ng/L, respectively. Median (IQR) hs-cTnI was higher in men (2.7 (1.8–4.1) ng/L) than in women (1.9 (1.1–3.2) ng/L; p