Calcium heart scans sharpen risk estimates mainly for borderline-risk adults
It's an increasingly popular scan that measures calcium in the heart's arteries and helps predict the risk of future heart disease. But according to a new Northwestern Medicine study, the quick and inexpensive test—known as a coronary artery calcium scan—may be most valuable only for a specific group of patients.
A Northwestern Medicine study revealed that coronary artery calcium scans provide limited additional value for predicting heart disease risk among the general population. After tracking over 6,000 adults for a decade, researchers found that the calcium scans only modestly improved overall cardiovascular risk prediction when added to the American Heart Association's PREVENT calculator.
The calcium scans, which detect calcium-containing plaque in the heart's arteries, were most beneficial for individuals whose risk was initially assessed as borderline or intermediate by PREVENT. For this subgroup, the calcium scores helped more accurately determine who was at higher or lower risk. However, routine use of calcium scans in low-risk or high-risk individuals may not offer clear clinical benefits due to potential unnecessary radiation exposure, testing, and costs.
Written by urgent.news from Medical Xpress's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
