Cardiac Screening Tools Fail to Identify Many Patients at Risk

TUESDAY, Nov. 25, 2025 (HealthDay News) -- Population-based cardiac screening tools fail to identify many patients at risk for a first acute coronary syndrome event, according to research published online Nov. 21 in JACC Advances.Anna S. Mueller, M.D., M.P.H., from Mount Sinai West/Morningside in New York City, and colleagues retrospectively analyzed 465 patients aged 65 years or younger with no known coronary artery disease who presented with their first type 1 myocardial infarction to simulate how guideline-directed tools would have performed if applied two days before presentation. The Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease (ASCVD) Risk Estimator Plus was used to calculate 10-year ASCVD risk, and the Predicting Risk of cardiovascular disease EVENTs (PREVENT) calculator was applied for comparison.The researchers found that 33, 12, 34, and 10 percent of patients were low, borderline, intermediate, and high risk, respectively ( 20 percent, respectively) using the ASCVD Risk Estimator Plus. Despite lower ASCVD risk classification, another 10 percent met statin indications due to low-density lipoprotein (LDL) ≥190 mg/dL or diabetes. Overall, 45, 16, 23, and 3 percent of patients were classified as low, borderline, intermediate, and high risk, respectively, using the PREVENT calculator, and 13 percent met statin indications. Using the ASCVD Risk Estimator Plus, 61, 60, 60, and 58 percent of patients with low/borderline risk, intermediate risk, and high risk and patients with LDL ≥190 mg/dL or diabetes, respectively, presented within 48 hours. Using the PREVENT classification, 65, 48, 63, 57, and 54 percent of those with low, borderline, intermediate, and high risk and patients with LDL ≥190 mg/dL or diabetes, respectively, presented within 48 hours."Our study exposes a major flaw where tools effective for tracking large populations fall short when guiding individualized care," Mueller said in a statement.Financial ties to Medtronic, Novo Nordisk, HeartFlow, and Elucid BioImaging were disclosed.Abstract/Full Text.Sign up for our weekly HealthDay newsletter

Cardiac Screening Tools Fail to Identify Many Patients at Risk

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