Atypical myocardial infarction and hypertension: an inner city experience.

The clinical features of 304 patients with acute myocardial infarction with and without hypertension were studied retrospectively. This inner city population consisted of 172 (57%) males and 132 (43%) females; 155 (51%) patients were black, 88 (29%) Hispanic, and 61 (20%) white by self-identification. Hypertension (greater than or equal to 160/95 mmHg) was present on admission in 46% (139) of patients. Typical ischaemic chest pain was the most common presenting symptom and occurred with a similar frequency in patients with and without hypertension. However, the group with hypertension consisted of proportionately more females than males, more frequently had previously diagnosed hypertension and congestive heart failure, and more often presented with shortness of breath and pulmonary oedema. The racial distribution, mean ages, prevalence of angina, previous myocardial infarction, diabetes, smoking, family history of cardiovascular disease, type of myocardial infarction, peak creatinine phosphokinase, plasma cholesterol, and mortality rates were similar in both groups. Thus, female sex, history of hypertension, history of congestive heart failure, and pulmonary oedema characterised patients with compared to those without hypertension. These findings suggest that the higher mortality rate observed in hypertensives during follow-up after myocardial infarction may be due, at least in part, to more severe underlying left ventricular dysfunction.