Fast Five Quiz: Are You Prepared to Confront a Myocardial Infarction?

MI occurs most often in the early morning hours. Mechanisms that may explain this circadian variation include the morning increase in sympathetic tone leading to increases in blood pressure, heart rate, coronary vascular tone, and myocardial contractility; the morning increase in blood viscosity, coagulability, and platelet aggregability; and the increased morning levels of serum cortisol and plasma catecholamines leading to sympathetic overactivity, thereby resulting in increased myocardial demand.

For more on the presentation of MI, read here.

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Cite this: Yasmine S. Ali. Fast Five Quiz: Are You Prepared to Confront a Myocardial Infarction? - Medscape - May 26, 2016.