Zagaceta J, et al. - Non-invasive cardiovascular (CV) risk markers were assessed for prognostic utility in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). Coronary arterial calcium (CAC) was identified the best independent non-invasive clinical predictor of CV events.

Methods

• Researchers prospectively assessed CV risk in 287 COPD patients using non-invasive markers including the Framingham score, the Systematic Coronary Risk Evaluation (SCORE) charts, coronary arterial calcium (CAC), epicardial adipose tissue (EAT), as well as clinical, biochemical and physiological variables.
• They used CV events as the main outcome in order to explore the predictive power of each parameter.

Results

• Data reported that during a median follow up of 65 months (ICR: 36–100), 44 CV events were recorded, 12 acute myocardial infarctions (27.3%), 10 ischemic heart disease/angina (22.7%), 12 peripheral artery disease events requiring surgery (27.3%) and 10 strokes (22.7%).
• During that period, 35 CV deaths were documented.
• An independent association of age, hypertension, CRP, total Cholesterol, LDL-Cholesterol, Framingham score and CAC with CV events was indicated in univariable analysis.
• In addition, CAC was identified as the best predictor of CV events (HR; 95%CI: 1.32; 1.19–1.46, p < 001) in multivariable analysis.