Association of Dephosphorylated-Uncarboxylated Matrix Gla Protein and Risk of Major Bleeding in Patients Presenting with Acute Myocardial Infarction

The “Can Rapid risk stratification of Unstable angina patients Suppress ADverse outcomes with Early implementation of the ACC/AHA guidelines” (CRUSADE) score emerged as a predictor of major bleeding in patients presenting with the acute coronary syndrome. On the other hand, previous studies established the association of dephosphorylated-uncarboxylated Matrix Gla protein (dp-ucMGP) and vitamin K, as well as their subsequent impact on coagulation cascade and bleeding tendency. Therefore, in the present study, we explored if dp-ucMGP plasma levels were associated with CRUSADE bleeding score. In this cross-sectional study, physical examination and clinical data, including plasma dp-ucMGP levels, were obtained from 80 consecutive patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI). A significant positive correlation was found between CRUSADE bleeding score and both dp-ucMGP plasma levels (r = 0.442, p < 0.001) and risk score of in-hospital mortality (r = 0.520, p < 0.001), respectively. In comparing the three risk groups of risk for in-hospital bleeding, the high/very high-risk group had significantly higher dp-ucMGP levels from both very low/low group (1277 vs. 794 pmol/L, p < 0.001) and the moderate group (1277 vs. 941 pmol/L, p = 0.047). Overall, since higher dp-ucMGP levels were associated with elevated CRUSADE score and prolonged hemostasis parameters, this may suggest that there is a biological link between dp-ucMGP plasma levels and the risk of bleeding in patients who present with AMI.