0000000000025668
AUTHOR
Walter Warmuth
Prediction of cardiovascular events with traditional risk equations and total plaque area of carotid atherosclerosis
Abstract A large number of cardiovascular events occur in seemingly healthy individuals. Atherosclerosis imaging can improve the outcome and treatment regime of such subjects. We aim to assess the predictive value of atherosclerosis imaging beyond traditional risk calculators in subjects aged 40–65 years. We compared PROCAM, SCORE and FRAM with carotid ultrasound (total plaque area, TPA) and arterial age (AA) was calculated in subjects without known cardiovascular diseases. Follow-up was obtained by phone or mail. In 2842 subjects (age 50 ± 8, 38% women) 154 (5.4%) cardiovascular events occurred (ASCVD: 41 myocardial infarctions, 16 strokes or TIA, 21 CABG, 41 PTCA, 35 coronary artery disea…
Cost-effectiveness analysis of statins in primary care: results from the Arteris cohort study.
BACKGROUND The Swiss Federal Office of Public Health performed a health technology assessment regarding statins in primary care. The chosen models may lead to a situation where a clinically indicated statin therapy is estimated not to be cost effective. METHODS We performed a cohort study regarding cardiovascular events, comparing SCORE and AGLA risk categories with tertiles of carotid plaque burden and used two models for cost-effectiveness analysis of high-potency statins. RESULTS Subjects (n = 2842) were followed up for 5.9 ± 2.9 years with the occurrence of 154 cardiovascular events (extrapolated 10-year risk was 9.2%). Carotid plaque imaging (total plaque area, TPA) significantly impro…