Is your heart healthy?
Are you sure?
Below is a chart analyzing the relationship between Coronary Artery Calcium Scores and traditional cardiac risk factors (age, hypertension, smoking, etc.). Coronary Artery Calcium Scores (CAC) are obtained from a specialized CT scanner. Simply put, this CT scan measures the amount of calcium found in your coronary arteries. It does NOT tell you if those arteries are narrow or wide open, but it does provide you with a great deal of information about how you are going to do over the next 10 years (see below).
This chart looks at the ALL CAUSE mortality. Take a look at the first row (yellow). These people had NO major risk factors for heart disease. Now look at the red bar. 1.5% of people with a CAC score of > 400 died in that given year (15% of a thousand people). That is a 15% ten year mortality rate…. and these people are considered healthy! And those with greater than 3 risk factors? Those with a calcium score of zero had a very low mortality rate.
Risk factor assessment is nothing more than guess work. But, the coronary artery calcium score is very predictive. Along with measuring insulin resistance, it is the best way to measure your health.
Is your heart healthy?
Are you sure?