Serum chromium in patients with recent and old myocardial infarction.

The serum chromium in 45 subjects with no clinical evidence of ischemic heart disease was found to be 1.71 parts per billion (ppb) (S.E. +/- 0.14). In 34 patients with a previously documented myocardial infarction, it was 1.84 ppb (S.E. +/- 0.18). The difference was not significant nor was there any difference with age or sex. In 37 patients with acute myocardial infarction the serum chromium level rose to a mean of 6.36 ppb (S.E. +/- 0.51; p less than 0.001) during the first five days following the infarct, returning to normal over the next five days. There was no correlation between the serum chromium and blood glucose levels in these patients or in a further 14 patients who were receiving glucose infusions (chest pain without electrocardiographic or enzyme changes) or who were diabetics.