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Trial Lecture – time and place
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Adjudication committee
- First opponent: Professor Nicholas Mills, Edinburgh University, UK
- Second opponent: Professor Tanja Zeller, Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE), Germany
- Third member and chair of the evaluation committee: Professor Anne Cathrine Staff, University of Oslo
Chair of the Defence
Professor Bjørnar Hassel, University of Oslo
Principal Supervisor
Torbjørn Omland, University of Oslo
Summary
Cardiac troponin is the preferred biomarker of myocardial injury and is essential in the diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction. In the general population and in patients with chronic coronary syndromes concentrations of cardiac troponins are associated with the risk of cardiovascular disease and death. Cigarette smoking is an important risk factor for cardiovascular disease. The overall aim of the current work was to investigate potential cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between tobacco and cardiac troponin concentrations.
The thesis includes four different papers and are based on three separate observational studies.
Our main findings are that circulating concentrations of cardiac troponins are inversely associated with cigarette smoking and snus use in the general population and in patients with stable coronary artery disease. Furthermore, the prognostic abilities of cardiac troponins may differ in cigarette smokers and non-smokers. We also found that the exercise-induced cardiac troponin release was lower in healthy snus users, compared to non-current users.
Our findings suggest that tobacco may interfere with the release or degradation of cardiac troponin. This may have implications for the use of cardiac troponin in diagnostic and prognostic assessment of heart disease. Whether the inverse association between tobacco use and cardiac troponin also holds true in the acute setting remains unresolved and specific studies addressing this will be essential.
Additional information
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