Background: Recently a novel left atrioventricular coupling index (LACI) has been introduced providing prognostic value to predict cardiovascular events beyond common risk factors in patients without cardiovascular disease. Since data on cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR)-derived LACI in patients following acute myocardial infarction (AMI) are scarce we aimed to assess the diagnostic and prognostic implications of LACI in a large AMI patient cohort.

Methods: In total, 1046 patients following AMI were included. After primary percutaneous coronary intervention CMR imaging and subsequent functional analyses were performed. LACI was defined by the ratio of the left atrial end-diastolic volume divided by the left ventricular end-diastolic volume. Major adverse cardiac events (MACE) including death, reinfarction or congestive heart failure within 12 months after the index event were defined as primary clinical endpoint.

Results: LACI was significantly higher in patients with MACE compared to those without MACE (p<0.001). Youden Index identified an optimal LACI cut-off at 34.7% to classify patients at high-risk (p<0.001 on log-rank testing). Greater LACI was associated with MACE on univariate regression modeling (HR 8.1, 95% CI 3.4 - 14.9, p<0.001) and after adjusting for baseline confounders and left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) on multivariate regression analyses (HR 3.1 95% CI 1.0 – 9., p=0.049). Furthermore, LACI assessment enabled further risk stratification in high-risk patients with impaired systolic LV function (LVEF ≤35%; p<0.001 on log-rank testing).

Conclusion: Atrial-ventricular interaction using CMR-derived LACI is a superior measure of outcome beyond LVEF especially in high-risk patients following AMI.