Simple Test Helps Predict Heart A...( Ankle Brachial Index (ABI) Identifies...),Health

Ankle Brachial Index (ABI) Identifies Peripheral Arterial Disease Patients at High Cardiovascular Risk Who Were Missed by Framingham Risk Score in 6,200-Person NHANES Study

SAN DIEGO, Calif., March 10 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The use of common and readily available screening tests--like the ankle brachial index (ABI)--along with traditional risk scoring systems--such as the Framingham Risk Score--has the potential to prevent devastating heart attacks in thousands of individuals who are not originally thought to be at high risk (according to Framingham alone), say researchers at the Society of Interventional Radiology's 34th Annual Scientific Meeting. About 25 percent of all heart attacks or sudden cardiac deaths in the United States occur in individuals thought to be at low risk.

In the study, information was analyzed from the 1999-2004 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES)--a nationally representative cross-sectional survey of the U.S. population for 6,292 men and women ages 40 and older without known history of heart disease, stroke, diabetes or atherosclerotic vascular disease--along with available data on standard cardiovascular risk factors and screening tests (like the ABI, which is a comparative blood pressure test). For the first time, researchers determined the prevalence of peripheral arterial disease (PAD) in a large population of women and men who were not considered at high risk for cardiovascular disease. And the results are surprising: novel risk factors (those not traditionally considered in the Framingham Risk Score) are abnormal in up to 45 percent of those not considered high risk for coronary heart events.

"This is significant news that can profoundly impact public health. If novel risk factors are shown to improve risk prediction, they could be very valuable because the prevalence of abnormal values is high in populations not known to have high risk," said Timothy P
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