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Screening Low-Risk Individuals for Coronary Artery Disease

  • Coronary Heart Disease (JA Farmer, Section Editor)
  • Published:
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Abstract

A large proportion of cardiovascular events occur in individuals classified by traditional risk factors as “low-risk.” Efforts to improve early detection of coronary artery disease among low-risk individuals, or to improve risk assessment, might be justified by this large population burden. The most promising tests for improving risk assessment, or early detection, include the coronary artery calcium (CAC) score, the ankle-brachial index (ABI), and the high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP). Data regarding the role of additional testing in low-risk populations to improve early detection or to enhance risk assessment are sparse but suggest that CAC and ABI may be helpful for improving risk classification and detecting the higher-risk people from among those at lower risk. However, in the absence of clinical trials in this patient population, such as has recently been proposed, we do not recommend routine use of any additional testing or screening in low-risk individuals at this time.

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Conflict of Interest

Chintan S. Desai, Roger S. Blumenthal, and Philip Greenland declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Johns Hopkins Hospital, Ciccarone Center for the Prevention of Heart Disease, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Chintan S. Desai & Roger S. Blumenthal

  2. Department of Preventive Medicine, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, 680 N. Lake Shore Drive, 14th Floor, Chicago, IL, 60611, USA

    Philip Greenland

  3. Johns Hopkins Ciccarone Center, Carnegie 568, 1800 Orleans Street, Baltimore, MD, 2187, USA

    Chintan S. Desai

  4. Johns Hopkins Ciccarone Center, Blalock 524, 1800 Orleans Street, Baltimore, MD, 21287, USA

    Roger S. Blumenthal

Authors
  1. Chintan S. Desai
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  2. Roger S. Blumenthal
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  3. Philip Greenland
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Correspondence to Philip Greenland.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Coronary Heart Disease

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Desai, C.S., Blumenthal, R.S. & Greenland, P. Screening Low-Risk Individuals for Coronary Artery Disease. Curr Atheroscler Rep 16, 402 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11883-014-0402-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11883-014-0402-8

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