Risk scores identify young people with hardened arteries

Armed with more knowledge about what cardiovascular disease looks like in people ages 15 to 34, co-authors from the University of Texas Health Science Center, the Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research and institutions in Delaware, New York, Pennsylvania and Louisiana will report Monday that the same measurements done in a routine physical – of blood cholesterol, blood sugar, blood pressure, and weight and height – can effectively be used to identify young people who show early evidence of hardening of the arteries, also called atherosclerosis.

The study, to be published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, examined arteries and samples of blood and other tissues from more than 1,100 young people who died of external causes such as motor vehicle accidents and were autopsied in forensic laboratories. Risk factors such as high cholesterol, identified from the blood samples, were correlated with evidence of atherosclerotic lesions in the coronary arteries and the abdominal aorta.

The researchers developed risk scores to calculate the probability of advanced lesions relative to age, sex, cholesterol, smoking, high blood pressure, obesity and elevated blood sugar.

“This new study provides a summary of how the risk factors act together in young people,” said lead author C. Alex McMahan, Ph.D., the statistician for the study and professor of pathology at the Health Science Center. The other senior co-author from San Antonio is Henry C. McGill Jr., M.D., professor and chairman emeritus of pathology at the Health Science Center and senior scientist emeritus at the Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research.

Scientists first observed in the 1950s that hardening of the arteries begins in young people. “What we have now shown is the relationship between these early lesions in young people and the traditional heart disease risk factors known to be associated with heart disease in older people – smoking, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, obesity and diabetes,” Dr. McMahan said.

He said the risk assessment needs to be expanded as new technologies are developed to image the early blood vessel lesions.

The study was supported by several grants from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute to institutions in Alabama, New York, Texas, Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, Georgia, Nebraska, Ohio, Tennessee and West Virginia.

Comments

The opinions expressed here are the views of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of News Medical.
Post a new comment
Post

While we only use edited and approved content for Azthena answers, it may on occasions provide incorrect responses. Please confirm any data provided with the related suppliers or authors. We do not provide medical advice, if you search for medical information you must always consult a medical professional before acting on any information provided.

Your questions, but not your email details will be shared with OpenAI and retained for 30 days in accordance with their privacy principles.

Please do not ask questions that use sensitive or confidential information.

Read the full Terms & Conditions.

You might also like...
Cardiac damage framework may identify patients who could benefit from earlier TAVR