tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11034229.post1955711887216486221..comments2023-07-14T02:53:40.719-07:00Comments on retired doc's thoughts: An increasing cardiac calcium score may not mean increased CVD riskjames gaultehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05537303135780186926noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11034229.post-60419648697936433702020-06-19T10:46:07.296-07:002020-06-19T10:46:07.296-07:00I was not clear in my comments.
Coronary calcifi...<br /><br />I was not clear in my comments. <br /><br />Coronary calcification(CC) by definition is coronary artery disease and does indicate a CV event risk is elevated above that in someone without CC.There is ample evidence that long time endurance athletes have increased coronary calcium scores.There is also good evidence indicating that long time endurance athletes seem to live longer than non exercisers and even longer than more moderate exercisers.DeFina's data indicated that life long exercisers did not show increased risk of CV events and seem to enjoy a lower allcause and CV death risk than non exercisers even though their CC scores were higher.Possible analogy to the observation that longer,and more potent statin use is associated with more CC but lower CV mortality.Statins are postulated to basically increase the "good type" of CC,which is calcium in the media of the artery and by some mechanism is associated with stabilization of plaques and decreased heart attacks. DeFina and the senior author,Ben Levine,suggest a similar mechanism may be at work in the high exercise group.<br /><br />The 2018 ACA/AHA recommendation on use of coronary calcium determination was that it was useful in persons with intermediate risk of a CV event in regard to statin use and other risk modifications.Some find it useful in the evaluation of chest pain as a calcium score of zero has good negative predictive value. <br /><br />James <br /><br />james gaultehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05537303135780186926noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11034229.post-8389221490728008852020-06-18T22:03:38.516-07:002020-06-18T22:03:38.516-07:00What is the point, then, of having a coronary calc...What is the point, then, of having a coronary calcium test?Nicolas Martinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15094228433358695581noreply@blogger.com