OBJECTIVETo explore the clinical manifestations of "blood-stasis and toxin" (BST) in patients with stable coronary heart disease (CHD) on the basis of "BST Causing Catastrophe" hypothesis, by analyzing the occurrence of acute cardiovascular events (ACEs) in a one-year follow-up period.

METHODSTwo hundred and fifty-four CHD patients in stable stage, whose diagnosis confirmed by coronary arteriography, were followed-up for one year with their clinical data recorded detailedly. The relationship between the occurrence of ACEs and personal history, body constitution, past history of illness, family history, clinical symptoms, physical signs, syndrome types and laboratory indexes were analyzed by single-variate and multivariate logistic stepwise regression method.

RESULTSDuring the follow-up period, two cases out of the 254 patients were lost, no case of death or acute myocardial infarction was seen, three cases underwent percutaneous coronary intervention, and 25 cases were hospitalized for unstable angina. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that hesitant or intermittent pulse, retrosternal pain, usual pharyngodynia and headache were the most important influencing factors for occurrence of ACEs (P < 0.05). High-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) > or =3 mg/L also indicated a predictive trend for ACEs occurrence, although logistic analysis showed no statistics difference (P = 0.094).

CONCLUSIONRetrosternal pain, headache, hesitant or intermittent pulse, usual pharyngodynia and increased hs-CRP might be taken as the clinical manifestations of BST, which provides a basis for applying Chinese medicine intervention (activating blood circulation and detoxifying) on high-risk CHD patients. Further demonstration is needed.