Coronary microvascular dysfunction spotted with stress PET beats BMI for predicting heart risks
Using coronary microvascular dysfunction (CMD) measurement identified with cardiac stress PET was more accurate at predicting adverse events in obese patients compared to measuring body mass index (BMI), according to a recent Journal of the American College of Cardiology study.
Lead researcher Navkaranbir S. Bajaj, MD, and colleagues looked at outcomes from 827 patients which solely included patients without obstructive coronary artery disease. Coronary microvascular dysfunction was defined as impaired coronary flow reserve (CFR).
When adjusted for various risk factors, only CFR remained independently associated with the primary endpoint of death and hospitalization for heart failure and myocardial infarction.
“BMI and CFR both appeared to be prognostically important in unadjusted and partially adjusted models, but only CFR improved model discrimination and remained independently associated with events in fully adjusted analyses,” Bajaj and colleagues wrote. “Indeed, in obese patients, only those with impaired CFR demonstrated a significantly increased risk of events; this was particularly evident in patients without extreme obesity (BMI 30 to 39 kg/m2), in whom impaired CFR was associated with a significant ≥2.5-fold increased adjusted rate of events.”
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Matt joined Chicago’s TriMed team in 2018 covering all areas of health imaging after two years reporting on the hospital field. He holds a bachelor’s in English from UIC, and enjoys a good cup of coffee and an interesting documentary.