The prognostic value of maximal exercise testing soon after first myocardial infarction

The prognostic value of ST-segment depression during maximalexercise test performed in the third to fourth week after acutemyocardial infarction (AMI), was studied in 126 consecutivepatients with no evidence of previous myocardial infarction,unstable angina pectoris or severe heart failure. All patientson average increased their pressure-rate product by 2.6 andno complications occurred. Within the first year of follow-up,major cardiac events occurred in 9 patients (20%), and werefatal in 6 (13%), of the 46 patients who developed ST-segmentdepression during exercise. Only 3 major cardiac events (4%)occurred in the 80 patients without exercise induced ST-segmentdepression. Depression of the ST-segment on maximal exercisewas a significant predictor of subsequent cardiac events inthese survivors of first AMI.