Circulating musclin as a potential prognostic biomarker for major adverse cardiovascular events in surgically treated acute aortic dissection: a retrospective cohort study.

Background: Musclin is a skeletal muscle-derived myokine with reported cardioprotective effects; however, its prognostic relevance in acute aortic dissection (AAD) remains uncertain. This study examined whether admission Musclin levels were associated with postoperative major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) and whether they added prognostic information beyond conventional clinical indicators. Methods: We retrospectively enrolled 108 surgically treated AAD patients from 2022 to 2023. Musclin levels were measured by ELISA in residual serum samples collected at admission. The primary endpoint was composite MACE. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis, multivariate Cox regression, time-dependent ROC, IDI and NRI were used to evaluate the predictive and incremental value of Musclin. Results: During 400-day follow-up, 36 patients (33.3%) developed MACE. The CART-derived optimal Musclin cutoff was 4.815 ng/mL. Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that low Musclin group had significantly higher MACE cumulative incidence than high Musclin group (48.2% vs. 17.3%, log-rank Conclusions: In this single-center retrospective cohort, lower admission Musclin was associated with a higher risk of postoperative MACE. Musclin may be a severity-related biomarker that could complement conventional risk indicators, but its independent clinical utility, optimal threshold, and role in risk stratification require prospective multicenter validation with comprehensive perioperative adjustment before clinical use.