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Risk Stratification for Primary Prevention of Coronary Artery Disease: Roles of C-Reactive Protein and Coronary Artery Calcium

  • Lipid Abnormalities and Cardiovascular Prevention (G De Backer, Section Editor)
  • Published:
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Abstract

Risk stratification of individuals at risk for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) plays an important role in primary prevention of cardiovascular disease. In addition to risk scores derived from conventional cardiovascular risk factors, high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) and coronary artery calcium (CAC) have emerged as two of the widely accepted non traditional risk factors for atherosclerotic disease that have shown incremental prognostic value in predicting cardiovascular events. This review systematically assesses the role of hs-CRP and CAC in various studies and demonstrates meta-analyses of the incremental prognostic value of hs-CRP and CAC in identifying patients at risk of future CVD events. Compared with this, CAC showed better incremental prognostic value and might be a better indicator of ASCVD risk in asymptomatic adults.

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Conflict of Interest

Waqas Qureshi, Jamal S. Rana, Joseph Yeboah, Usama bin Nasir, and Mouaz H. Al-Mallah declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Medical Center Blvd., Winston-Salem, NC, 27157, USA

    Waqas T. Qureshi, Joseph Yeboah & Usama bin Nasir

  2. Division of Cardiology, Kaiser Permanente Northern California, Oakland, CA, 94609, USA

    Jamal S. Rana

  3. Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, 94143, USA

    Jamal S. Rana

  4. Cardiac Imaging King Abdul-Aziz Cardiac Center, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

    Mouaz H. Al-Mallah

  5. Division of Research, Kaiser Permanente Northern California, Oakland, CA, 94609, USA

    Jamal S. Rana

  6. King Abdullah International Medical research center, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

    Mouaz H. Al-Mallah

Authors
  1. Waqas T. Qureshi
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  2. Jamal S. Rana
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  3. Joseph Yeboah
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  4. Usama bin Nasir
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  5. Mouaz H. Al-Mallah
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Correspondence to Waqas T. Qureshi.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Lipid Abnormalities and Cardiovascular Prevention

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Qureshi, W.T., Rana, J.S., Yeboah, J. et al. Risk Stratification for Primary Prevention of Coronary Artery Disease: Roles of C-Reactive Protein and Coronary Artery Calcium. Curr Cardiol Rep 17, 110 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11886-015-0666-9

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