Academic Editor: Peter A. McCullough
Trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO) is reported to accelerate atherosclerosis and the
development of adverse cardiac outcomes. Relationship between coronary
atherosclerotic burden and TMAO has been examined in stable coronary artery
disease and ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction, but not in non-ST-segment
elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI). We examined the association between
TMAO and coronary atherosclerotic burden in NSTEMI. In this prospective cohort
study, two groups including NSTEMI (n = 73) and age-sex matched Healthy (n = 35)
individuals were enrolled between 2019 and 2020. Coronary atherosclerotic burden
was stratified based on the number of diseased coronary vessels and clinical risk
scores including SYNTAX and GENSINI. Fasting plasma TMAO was measured by isotope
dilution high-performance liquid chromatography. The median plasma TMAO
levels were significantly higher in the NSTEMI group than in the Healthy group,
respectively (0.59