title: The atherosclerosis burden score (ABS): a convenient ultrasound-based score of peripheral atherosclerosis for coronary artery disease prediction.
abstract: Ultrasonographic detection of subclinical atherosclerosis improves cardiovascular risk stratification, but uncertainty persists about the most discriminative method to apply. In this study, we found that the "atherosclerosis burden score (ABS)", a novel straightforward ultrasonographic score that sums the number of carotid and femoral arterial bifurcations with plaques, significantly outperformed common carotid intima-media thickness, carotid mean/maximal thickness, and carotid/femoral plaque scores for the detection of coronary artery disease (CAD) (receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve area under the curve (AUC) = 0.79; P = 0.027 to <0.001 with the other five US endpoints) in 203 patients undergoing coronary angiography. ABS was also more correlated with CAD extension (R = 0.55; P < 0.001). Furthermore, in a second group of 1128 patients without cardiovascular disease, ABS was weakly correlated with the European Society of Cardiology chart risk categories (R(2) = 0.21), indicating that ABS provided information beyond usual cardiovascular risk factor-based risk stratification. Pending prospective studies on hard cardiovascular endpoints, ABS appears as a promising tool in primary prevention.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Lausanne University Hospital, Lausanne, Switzerland, patrick.yerly@chuv.ch.
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Yerly
authors.forename: Pedro
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Marquès-Vidal
authors.forename: Reza
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Owlya
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Eeckhout
authors.forename: Lukas
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Kappenberger
authors.forename: Roger
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Darioli
authors.forename: Michèle
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Depairon
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D019540:Area Under Curve; D002339:Carotid Arteries / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D002340:Carotid Artery Diseases / Q000150:complications / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D059168:Carotid Intima-Media Thickness; D017023:Coronary Angiography; D003324:Coronary Artery Disease / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000209:etiology*; D003661:Decision Support Techniques; D005260:Female; D005263:Femoral Artery / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D058729:Peripheral Arterial Disease / Q000150:complications / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D058226:Plaque, Atherosclerotic; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011379:Prognosis; D012372:ROC Curve; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D055815:Young Adult