-
We sought to assess the impact of smoking status, cumulative pack-years, and time since cessation (the latter in former smokers only) on 3 important domains of cardiovascular disease: inflammation, vascular dynamics and function, and subclinical atherosclerosis. These findings expand our understanding of the harmful effects of smoking and help explain the cardiovascular benefits of smoking cessation.
Read on Pubmed
-
The potent predictive value of coronary artery calcium burden applies to middle-aged as well as older adults.
Read on Pubmed
-
To facilitate the guideline-based implementation of treatment recommendations in the ambulatory setting and to encourage participation in the multiple preventive health efforts that exist, we have organized several recent guideline updates into a simple ABCDEF approach. We would remind clinicians that evidence-based medicine is meant to inform recommendations but that synthesis of patient-specific data and use of appropriate clinical judgment in each individual situation is ultimately preferred.
Read on Pubmed
-
The newly released 2013 ACC/AHA Guideline for Assessing Cardiovascular Risk was a major advance over prior guidelines, but the new risk equations do not appear to lead to significantly better discrimination than older models. Since the same risk factors are incorporated, using the new risk estimators may lead to inaccurate assessment of atherosclerotic cardiovascular risk in certain groups of patients. There also is likely an overestimation of risk when applied to modern populations. Future guidelines could provide clearer direction on which individuals would benefit from additional testing for more personalized preventive therapies.
Read on Pubmed
-
There was a strong association between the baseline burden and regional distribution of CAC and the risk and type of future coronary revascularization among asymptomatic subjects.
Read on Pubmed
-
This study shifts the focus from prediction of events to detection of disease in the effort to improve personalized decision-making and outcomes. It also discusses innovative future strategies for risk estimation and treatment allocation in preventive cardiology.
Read on Pubmed
-
Subclinical atherosclerosis testing with CAC is currently superior to any combination of risk factors and serum biomarkers.
Read on Pubmed
-
This analysis looks at the strengths and limitations of two large trials of statin therapy based on persons with an elevated hsCRP, CAC score, or both.
Read on Pubmed
-
This editorial examines the shortcomings of traditional cardiovascular risk assessment scores.
Read on Pubmed
-
CAC scoring can help match statin therapy to absolute atherosclerotic CVD risk.
Read on Pubmed
-
The presence of a high CAC burden, even among individuals without risk factors, is associated with an elevated event rate, whereas the absence of CAC, even among those with many risk factors, is associated with a low event rate. CAC scoring can further risk-stratify asymptomatic individuals at the extremes of risk factor burden.
Read on Pubmed
-
In this study of patients without baseline cognitive dysfunction, short-term data are most compatible with no adverse effect of statins on cognition, and long-term data supports a beneficial role for statins in the prevention of dementia.
Read on Pubmed
-
Although high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) is involved in the immunologic process that triggers vascular remodeling and plaque deposition and is associated with increased cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk, definitive randomized evidence for its role as a causative factor in atherothrombosis is lacking. This article reviews four distinct points from the literature to better understand the current state and application of hsCRP in clinical practice, and we highlight recommendations from societies and important considerations when using hsCRP to guide treatment decisions in the primary prevention setting.
Read on Pubmed
-
Unhealthy lifestyle habits are a major contributor to coronary artery disease (CAD). The purpose of the study was to investigate the associations of smoking, weight maintenance, physical activity, and Mediterranean-style diet with coronary calcium, cardiovascular events, and mortality. We discovered that, over the course of nearly 8 years, a combination of regular exercise, healthy diet, smoking avoidance, and weight maintenance contributed to lower coronary calcium incidence, slower calcium progression, and lower all-cause mortality.
Read on Pubmed
-
The aim of this study was to further explore the interplay between smoking status, coronary artery calcium (CAC), and all-cause mortality. Smoking is a risk factor for death across the entire spectrum of subclinical coronary atherosclerosis. Smokers with any CAC had significantly higher mortality than smokers without CAC, a finding with implications for smokers undergoing lung cancer CT-based screening. However, the absence of CAC might not be as useful a "negative risk factor" in active smokers, because this group has mortality rates similar to nonsmokers with mild-to-moderate atherosclerosis.
Read on Pubmed
-
The value of coronary artery calcium for predicting mortality extends to both elderly patients and those <45 years old. Elderly persons with no CAC have a lower mortality rate than younger persons with high CAC.
Read on Pubmed
-
Early in 2012, a debate over the merits of statin therapy in primary prevention was published in the Wall Street Journal. The statin opponent claimed that statins should only be used in secondary prevention and never in any primary-prevention patients at risk for cardiovascular events. In this evidence-based rebuttal to those claims, we review the evidence supporting the efficacy of statin therapy in primary prevention. Cardiovascular risk is a continuum in which those at an elevated risk of events stand to benefit from early initiation of therapy. Statins should not be reserved until after a patient suffers the catastrophic consequences of atherosclerosis. Contrary to the assertions of the statin opponent, this principle has been demonstrated through reductions in heart attacks, strokes, and mortality in numerous randomized controlled primary-prevention statin trials. In selected at-risk individuals, the combination of pharmacotherapy and lifestyle changes is more effective than either alone. Future investigation in prevention should focus on improving our ability to identify these at-risk individuals.
Read on Pubmed
-
Despite substantial risk reductions targeting low-density lipoprotein cholesterol with statins, there remains significant residual risk as evidenced by incident and recurrent CVD events among statin-treated patients. Observational studies have shown that low levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) are associated with increased CVD risk. It remains unclear whether strategies aimed at increasing HDL-C in addition to background statin therapy will further reduce risk.
Read on Pubmed
-
In this featured debate in JAMA, we reviewed the extensive data from randomized clinical trials and observational studies supporting the selective use of lipid lowering therapy in a middle-aged man with hyperlipidemia.
Read on Pubmed
-
We conclude that CAC can help risk stratify individuals with diabetes and may aid in selection of patients who may benefit from therapies such as low-dose aspirin for primary prevention of CVD.
Read on Pubmed
-
Much attention has been directed toward lifestyle modifications as effective means of reducing cardiovascular disease risk. We review recent observational and interventional trials investigating the effects of physical activity on markers of (or causal factors for) atherosclerotic burden and vascular disease. There is a strong correlation between physical activity and triglyceride reduction, apolipoprotein B reduction, HDL increase, change in LDL particle size, increase in tissue plasminogen activator activity, and decrease in CAC. Further research is needed to elucidate the effect on inflammatory markers and intima-media thickness.
Read on Pubmed
-
This innovative study found that the Reynolds Risk Score was modestly better than the traditional Framingham risk score in predicting the incidence of new coronary calcification and the progression of existing calcification. This observation also applied to clinical events.
Read on Pubmed
-
The landmark Justification for the Use of Statins in Primary Prevention: An Intervention Trial Evaluating Rosuvastatin (JUPITER) trial showed that some patients with LDL-cholesterol (LDL-C) <130 mg/dL and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) concentrations of >2 mg/L benefit from treatment with rosuvastatin, although the absolute rates of cardiovascular events were low. In a population eligible for JUPITER, we established whether coronary artery calcium (CAC) might further stratify risk; additionally we compared hsCRP with CAC for risk prediction across the range of low and high hsCRP values. CAC further stratifies risk in patients eligible for JUPITER, and could be used to target subgroups of patients who are expected to derive the most, and the least, absolute benefit from statin treatment. Focusing of treatment on the subset of individuals with normal LDL-C and at least moderate subclinical atherosclerosis should allow for more appropriate allocation of resources.
Read on Pubmed
-
Levels of hsCRP are closely associated with abdominal obesity, metabolic syndrome, and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. The JUPITER trial has encouraged using hsCRP greater than or equal to 2 mg/L to guide statin therapy; however, the association of hsCRP and atherosclerosis, independent of obesity, remains unknown. We concluded that high hsCRP, as defined by JUPITER, was not associated with CAC and was mildly associated with carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT) in the absence of obesity. In contrast, obesity was associated with both measures of subclinical atherosclerosis independently of hsCRP status.
Read on Pubmed
-
Baseline CAC accurately identifies coronary atherosclerosis and improves prediction of future cardiac events. However, whether knowledge of progression of CAC scores over time further improves risk prediction is unclear. We conducted a comprehensive review of published reports on CAC progression and found that CAC progression correlates with worsening atherosclerosis and may facilitate prediction of future cardiac events. These findings support the notion that slowing CAC progression with therapeutic interventions might provide prognostic benefit. However, despite promising early data, such interventions (most notably with statin therapy) have not been shown to slow the progression of CAC in any randomized controlled trial to date, outside of post hoc subgroup analyses. Thus, routine quantification of CAC progression cannot currently be recommended in clinical practice.
Read on Pubmed
-
It is important to note that the conclusion in the editorial that the Gottlieb et al. paper presents a “starkly contrasting picture” to a prior systematic review is based on a statistical error.Once again, Bayes’ theorem is critical. Although CAC = 0 may not definitively exclude important coronary artery disease (CAD) in patients referred for coronary angiography, there may be potential applications in lower-risk patients presenting with atypical chest pain features.
Read on Pubmed
