The blood tests used to diagnose heart attacks can’t tell the difference between a healthy athlete’s post-race troponin spike and a real heart attack.

34

Pro

0

Against

Evidence from Studies

Supporting (1)

34

Community contributions welcome

34

The cardiac troponin response following physical exercise in relation to biomarker criteria for acute myocardial infarction; the North Sea Race Endurance Exercise Study (NEEDED) 2013.

Cross-Sectional Study

Human

2018 Apr

After a long bike race, many healthy people had high troponin levels—so high that they would normally be diagnosed with a heart attack. But they didn’t have a heart attack; their bodies just reacted to the exercise. This means the current tests can’t tell the difference between a normal workout response and a real heart attack.

Contradicting (0)

0

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No contradicting evidence found

Gold Standard Evidence Needed

According to GRADE and EBM methodology, here is what ideal scientific evidence would look like to definitively prove or disprove this specific claim, ordered from strongest to weakest evidence.

Source Study

The cardiac troponin response following physical exercise in relation to biomarker criteria for acute myocardial infarction; the North Sea Race Endurance Exercise Study (NEEDED) 2013.

Score: 34

DOI: 10.1016/j.cca.2018.01.033

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