Vascular robustness: The missing parameter in cardiovascular risk prediction

Vascular robustness: The missing parameter in cardiovascular risk prediction☆

Undetected high risk for premature death of cardiovascular disease (CVD) among individuals with low-to-moderate risk factor scores is an acknowledged obstacle to CVD prevention. The vasculature's functional robustness against risk factor derailment may serve as a novel discriminator of mortality risk under similar risk factor loads. To test this assumption, we hypothesized that the expected inv...

Risk Prediction in Cardiovascular Medicine Cardiovascular Risk Prediction

Few topics have received as much attention in the cardiovascular literature over the last 5 years as risk prediction. The assessment of risk has been a key element in efforts to define risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD), to identify novel markers of risk for CVD, to identify and assess potential targets of therapy, and to enhance the cost-effective implementation of therapies for bot...

Lipoprotein-Associated Phospholipase A2, Vascular Inflammation and Cardiovascular Risk Prediction

Circulating lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A2 (Lp-PLA2) is a marker of inflammation that plays a critical role in atherogenesis; its inhibition may have antiatherogenic effects. Studies from the West of Scotland Coronary Prevention Study (WOSCOPS), Monitoring Trends and Determinants in Cardiovascular Diseases (MONICA) and Rotterdam cohorts have shown that Lp-PLA2 is an independent predict...

Chemokines in cardiovascular risk prediction.

In consideration of the important role of inflammation in plaque progression and stability, recent work has focused on whether plasma markers of inflammation can non-invasively diagnose and predict coronary artery disease (CAD) and other forms of atherosclerotic disorders. Although several studies support an important pathogenic role of chemokines in atherogenesis and plaque destabilization, po...

Vascular biomarkers in cardiovascular risk prediction: the central role of the cardiologist.