Background: COVID-19 has had a major impact on all facets of life in the United States. Its devastating effects have resulted in the mobilization of major resources, both at the national, state, and individu...Background: COVID-19 has had a major impact on all facets of life in the United States. Its devastating effects have resulted in the mobilization of major resources, both at the national, state, and individual levels. This mobilization has resulted in vaccination, personal preventive measures, and new therapies to combat this illness. As a result, the rates of new infections, hospitalizations, and deaths have greatly diminished, minimizing the associated morbidity and mortality. Purpose: What has not been appreciated is that a more serious epidemic has continued unabated in the United States and the Western world. This article emphasizes the importance of a national effort to eradicate cardiovascular disease. Methods: Cardiovascular disease has caused more deaths than COVID-19 in almost all months since the COVID-19 epidemic was first recognized in December 2020. In fact, cardiovascular disease has caused more deaths than either all cancers combined or infections for the last two decades. The tragedy of this truth is that effective therapy is currently available for preventing and reversing cardiovascular disease at a very low cost. What is required is a concerted effort and commitment by all legislative and medical organizations to allocate the resources to abolish asymptomatic cardiovascular disease. Results: Recognition and mobilization of resources to combat this epidemic are much overdue with the resultant savings of lives and billions of dollars. It is past time for the medical establishment to support the national identification of asymptomatic cardiovascular disease and initiate treatment before patients become symptomatic with this deadly disease. Conclusion: The national experience with COVID-19 has demonstrated what can be accomplished when a national concerted effort is made to address a devastating medical epidemic. This commitment is not only feasible for cardiovascular disease, but is also necessary for the benefit of all people in the world.展开更多
Introduction: The epidemic of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease in the Western World accounts for the majority of morbidity and mortality in adults. This disease is on the increase, and previous recommendations u...Introduction: The epidemic of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease in the Western World accounts for the majority of morbidity and mortality in adults. This disease is on the increase, and previous recommendations using “risk equations” to prescribe preventive treatment have not been successful in reducing the prevalence of cardiovascular disease. Furthermore, compliance with statin medication has been limited, with approximately 50% of individuals being non-compliant within five years. This situation is unacceptable since atherosclerosis is both preventable and reversible. Methods: The guidelines presented in this article utilize coronary artery calcium scanning as the basis for preventative therapeutic decisions and identifying the presence of asymptomatic cardiovascular disease. This radiographic technique is superior to “risk equations” in predicting future cardiovascular events. It provides a comprehensive assessment of the lifelong insults to the coronary artery vascular endothelium and the resulting inflammation. Coronary artery calcium scanning is widely available, inexpensive, safe, and reproducible. It has the major advantage of increasing treatment compliance in patients with positive coronary artery calcium scores. Results: All suggested guidelines are supported by published scientific data. Citations are provided to allow the reader to obtain further information. The authors are available for further consultation. Each guideline provides specific recommendations that the primary caregiver can discuss with the patient. Patient involvement in decision-making is strongly recommended. Both treatment costs and adverse effects are minimal. Conclusion: It is anticipated that the early identification of asymptomatic cardiovascular disease and its aggressive treatment will result in regression of subclinical atherosclerosis. Adoption of these guidelines will stop the epidemic of symptomatic heart disease and result in healthier and more satisfied patients.展开更多
Purpose: Cardiovascular disease is the number one cause of death in the Western world. The purpose of this manuscript is to compare the benefits and deficiencies of coronary artery calcium scanning versus compute...Purpose: Cardiovascular disease is the number one cause of death in the Western world. The purpose of this manuscript is to compare the benefits and deficiencies of coronary artery calcium scanning versus computer generated risk equations in identifying atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. These two approaches provide significantly different cardiovascular risk assessments and often lead to therapeutic differences in recommendations from the physician to the patient. Methods: Pertinent medical literature is reviewed concerning both risk assessment approaches (i.e., coronary artery scanning and computer generated risk equations). The strengths and weaknesses of both approaches are discussed, and recommendations are provided based upon available data. Results: Cardiovascular risk equations are simple and readily obtained at no charge by physicians. However, their drawbacks are several, including non-applicability to specific populations, disagreements among different cardiovascular society risk equations, wide ranges of risk outputs (e.g., intermediate 10-year risk is between 5% and 20%), inability to definitively identify coronary artery plaques, and lack of definitive anatomical coronary disease. Alternatively, coronary artery calcium scanning costs approximately $100/scan (if not covered by insurance), requires time and effort by the patient, and exposes the patient to a minimal amount of radiation. However, coronary calcium scanning identifies specific atherosclerotic coronary disease and provides additional information about the anatomical location (i.e., coronary artery) of the atherosclerotic plaque. Conclusion: Based on the published literature, coronary artery calcium scanning is the preferred approach for identifying atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. Although there are minor drawbacks, overall it provides superior clinical information compared with computer generated risk equations.展开更多
文摘Background: COVID-19 has had a major impact on all facets of life in the United States. Its devastating effects have resulted in the mobilization of major resources, both at the national, state, and individual levels. This mobilization has resulted in vaccination, personal preventive measures, and new therapies to combat this illness. As a result, the rates of new infections, hospitalizations, and deaths have greatly diminished, minimizing the associated morbidity and mortality. Purpose: What has not been appreciated is that a more serious epidemic has continued unabated in the United States and the Western world. This article emphasizes the importance of a national effort to eradicate cardiovascular disease. Methods: Cardiovascular disease has caused more deaths than COVID-19 in almost all months since the COVID-19 epidemic was first recognized in December 2020. In fact, cardiovascular disease has caused more deaths than either all cancers combined or infections for the last two decades. The tragedy of this truth is that effective therapy is currently available for preventing and reversing cardiovascular disease at a very low cost. What is required is a concerted effort and commitment by all legislative and medical organizations to allocate the resources to abolish asymptomatic cardiovascular disease. Results: Recognition and mobilization of resources to combat this epidemic are much overdue with the resultant savings of lives and billions of dollars. It is past time for the medical establishment to support the national identification of asymptomatic cardiovascular disease and initiate treatment before patients become symptomatic with this deadly disease. Conclusion: The national experience with COVID-19 has demonstrated what can be accomplished when a national concerted effort is made to address a devastating medical epidemic. This commitment is not only feasible for cardiovascular disease, but is also necessary for the benefit of all people in the world.
文摘Introduction: The epidemic of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease in the Western World accounts for the majority of morbidity and mortality in adults. This disease is on the increase, and previous recommendations using “risk equations” to prescribe preventive treatment have not been successful in reducing the prevalence of cardiovascular disease. Furthermore, compliance with statin medication has been limited, with approximately 50% of individuals being non-compliant within five years. This situation is unacceptable since atherosclerosis is both preventable and reversible. Methods: The guidelines presented in this article utilize coronary artery calcium scanning as the basis for preventative therapeutic decisions and identifying the presence of asymptomatic cardiovascular disease. This radiographic technique is superior to “risk equations” in predicting future cardiovascular events. It provides a comprehensive assessment of the lifelong insults to the coronary artery vascular endothelium and the resulting inflammation. Coronary artery calcium scanning is widely available, inexpensive, safe, and reproducible. It has the major advantage of increasing treatment compliance in patients with positive coronary artery calcium scores. Results: All suggested guidelines are supported by published scientific data. Citations are provided to allow the reader to obtain further information. The authors are available for further consultation. Each guideline provides specific recommendations that the primary caregiver can discuss with the patient. Patient involvement in decision-making is strongly recommended. Both treatment costs and adverse effects are minimal. Conclusion: It is anticipated that the early identification of asymptomatic cardiovascular disease and its aggressive treatment will result in regression of subclinical atherosclerosis. Adoption of these guidelines will stop the epidemic of symptomatic heart disease and result in healthier and more satisfied patients.
文摘Purpose: Cardiovascular disease is the number one cause of death in the Western world. The purpose of this manuscript is to compare the benefits and deficiencies of coronary artery calcium scanning versus computer generated risk equations in identifying atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. These two approaches provide significantly different cardiovascular risk assessments and often lead to therapeutic differences in recommendations from the physician to the patient. Methods: Pertinent medical literature is reviewed concerning both risk assessment approaches (i.e., coronary artery scanning and computer generated risk equations). The strengths and weaknesses of both approaches are discussed, and recommendations are provided based upon available data. Results: Cardiovascular risk equations are simple and readily obtained at no charge by physicians. However, their drawbacks are several, including non-applicability to specific populations, disagreements among different cardiovascular society risk equations, wide ranges of risk outputs (e.g., intermediate 10-year risk is between 5% and 20%), inability to definitively identify coronary artery plaques, and lack of definitive anatomical coronary disease. Alternatively, coronary artery calcium scanning costs approximately $100/scan (if not covered by insurance), requires time and effort by the patient, and exposes the patient to a minimal amount of radiation. However, coronary calcium scanning identifies specific atherosclerotic coronary disease and provides additional information about the anatomical location (i.e., coronary artery) of the atherosclerotic plaque. Conclusion: Based on the published literature, coronary artery calcium scanning is the preferred approach for identifying atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. Although there are minor drawbacks, overall it provides superior clinical information compared with computer generated risk equations.
