What things properly predict Atherosclerosis extent? Have a look !

Interesting paper today which is rather…revealing. We all want to know what things drive atherosclerosis & heart disease – and here the authors luckily have CAC measurements (the most powerful indicator of atherosclerosis extent – by a country mile).

Sadly they think that atherosclerosis progression can’t be stopped – it’s an inevitability in their opinion. How sad to see this, how misguided they are – if only they knew. Anyway, on to the paper summary: “Progression of coronary artery calcification seems to be inevitable, but predictable – results of the Heinz Nixdorf Recall (HNR) study”

So what predicted atherosclerosis extremely well then? Let’s have a look, shall we?

Whoa - big prediction here - very important things to watch - the higher they are, the more atherosclerosis - never fails !!! Note that diabetic physiology underpins most cardiac disease - and idiopathic blood pressure is mostly hyperinsulinemia driven. Go figure ;-) — Whoa – big prediction here – very important things to watch – the higher they are, the more atherosclerosis – never fails !!! Note that diabetic physiology underpins most cardiac disease – and idiopathic blood pressure is mostly hyperinsulinemia driven. Go figure 😉

And what didn’t predict atherosclerosis – and in fact could be highly misleading? Have a look below:

Bum steer there guys... — Bum steer there guys…”Cholesterol” can be good when it’s low – and bad when it’s low too! Don’t go by these measures…note around 17% of the super-high CAC group were on Lipid-lowering, versus ~14% of the very-high CAC group – so the poor predictability of “cholesterol” wasn’t due to that factor… 😉

Here’s the HR’s for the various factors – looks like they were too embarrassed to leave ApoB / LDLp in their table (I think you’re simply not allowed to criticize this most recent embodiment of the “Cholesterol Hypothesis”):