Assessment of the Risk of Myocardial Infarction among Undergraduate Students in a Nigerian Tertiary Institution

Background; Myocardial Infarction (MI) is a term which is used for defining the necrosis in the heart muscle due to the lack of the oxygen need of myocardium which cannot be supplied by the coronaries. Aim: This study was carried out to determine the effects of some lifestyle and anthropometric parameters on some cardiac enzymes. Methods: A total of 146 students of sex, age bracket, (16 - 30) were recruited for this study. Enzymatic methods were used in the determination of AST, ALT, CKMB activities. Anthropometric measurements of the participants were taken. The result showed that there was significant increase in systolic blood pressure (SBP), weight and height (p<0.05), but there was no significant increase in their diastolic blood pressure (DBP) and body mass index (BMI) (p>0.05) in the serum ALT, AST, and CKMB activities. However, there was significant difference in ALT and AST activities (P<0.05) but there was no significant difference in serum CKMB activity (P>0.05). Statistically the percentage of the participants that had their serum ALT activity above the reference range were 16.6%, those within the reference range were 83.4%,. In serum AST activity, the percentage above the reference range were 19.9%, those within the reference range were 80.1%. Meanwhile, in serum CK-MB activity, those above the reference range were 25.2% while those within the reference range were 74.8%. Conclusion: This could be probably indicate that the leakage of AST and ALT activities may be of hepatic origin. . The non-significant increase in CKMB which is a specific marker of myocardial injury, could suggest that the subjects were not at risk of developing of myocardial infarction as regards their age.