In Ischemic Heart Disease, Reduced Sensitivity to Pressure at the Sternum Accompanies Lower Mortality after Five Years: Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial

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Background: Autonomic nervous system dysfunction (ANSD) is associated with negative prognosis of ischemic heart disease (IHD). Elevated periosteal pressure sensitivity (PPS) at the sternum relates to ANSD and sympathetic hyperactivity. Two previous observational case–control studies of the effect of reduction of PPS suggested lower all-cause mortality from IHD and stroke. We now used a specific daily, adjunct, non-pharmacological program of reduction of elevated PPS to test the hypothetical association between the intervention and reduced all-cause mortality in patients with stable IHD in a randomized controlled trial (RCT). Methods: We completed active (n = 106) and passive interventions (n = 107) and compared the five-year mortalities. We also compared the five-year individual all-cause mortality of each participant to approximately 35.000 members of the general population of Denmark. Pooling the mortality data from the active group of the RCT with the two preliminary studies, we registered the mortality following active intervention of 1.168 person-years, compared to 40 million person-years of the pooled general population. Results: We recorded fewer deaths of the active RCT intervention group than of the corresponding control group from the general population (p = 0.01), as well as of the passive RCT intervention group (p = 0.035). The meta-analysis of the three studies together demonstrated reduced 4.2-year all-cause mortality of 60% (p = 0.007). Conclusions: The test of the hypothetical effect of an intervention aimed at the attenuation of ANSD accompanied by a lowered PPS revealed reduced all-cause mortality in patients with stable IHD.

Original languageEnglish
Article number7585
JournalJournal of Clinical Medicine
Volume12
Issue number24
Number of pages18
ISSN2077-0383
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2023

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Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 by the authors.

    Research areas

  • autonomic nervous system, autonomic nervous system dysfunction, ischemic heart disease, mortality, periosteal pressure sensitivity, sympathetic hyperactivity

ID: 379254780