Clinical features

• hypertension ^{a b}
• smoking ^b
• diabetes mellitus ^{a b}
• elevated total cholesterol or triglycerides ^{a b}
• long-term elevated inflammatory markers: CRP, fibrinogen ^a
  

Why?

• Cardiovascular risk factors increase the risk of dying ^{a b} or having a recurrent myocardial infarction. ^b
• Cardiovascular risk factors (smoking, hypertension, diabetes, etc) are not clearly helpful at diagnosing a myocardial infarction. ^b

Cardiovascular disease increases the risk of a myocardial infarction

Patient	Prognostic Factor	Outcome	CER	OR (95% CI)	NNF+ (95% CI)
aged 65 or more a	clinical cardiovascular disease independent	myocardial infarction at 5 years	6.1%	1.89 (1.47 to 2.42)	18 (12 to 35)