Despite the high incidence and mortality of ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) among the very elderly, risk markers for this condition remain poorly defined. This study was designed to identify independent markers of STEMI among individuals carefully selected for being healthy or manifesting STEMI in < 24 h.

We enrolled participants aged 80 years or older of whom 50 were STEMI patients and 207 had never manifested cardiovascular diseases. Blood tests, medical and psychological evaluations were obtained at study admission. Odds Ratio (OR) and attributed risk (AR) were obtained by multivariate regression models using STEMI as dependent variable.

Low glomerular filtration rate (GFR) [OR:4.41 (1.78–10.95); p = 0.001], reduced levels of HDL-C [OR:10.70 (3.88–29.46); p = 0.001], male gender [OR:12.08 (5.82–25.08); p = 0.001], moderate to severe depressive symptoms [OR:10.00 (2.82–35.50); p = 0.001], prior smoking [OR:2.00 (1.05–3.80); p = 0.034] and current smoking [OR:6.58 (1.99–21.70); p = 0.002] were significantly associated with STEMI. No association was found between STEMI and age, diabetes, hypertension, mild depressive symptoms, triglyceride or LDL-C.

This is the first case–control study carried out with very elderlies to assess STEMI risk. Our findings indicate that reduced HDL-C, GFR, male gender, smoking habits and moderate to severe depressive symptoms are markers of STEMI in this age group.

In Individuals aged 80 or more years, a greater attention must be paid to low HDL-C and GFR at the expense of conventional STEMI risk factors for younger adults such as diabetes mellitus, hypertension and high LDL-C or triglyceride.