Medical history for prognostic risk assessment and diagnosis of stable patients with suspected coronary artery disease

Am J Med. 2015 Aug;128(8):871-8. doi: 10.1016/j.amjmed.2014.10.031. Epub 2015 Apr 10.

Abstract

Objective: To develop a clinical cardiac risk algorithm for stable patients with suspected coronary artery disease based upon angina typicality and coronary artery disease risk factors.

Methods: Between 2004 and 2011, 14,004 adults with suspected coronary artery disease referred for cardiac imaging were followed: 1) 9093 patients for coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) followed for 2.0 years (CCTA-1); 2) 2132 patients for CCTA followed for 1.6 years (CCTA-2); and 3) 2779 patients for exercise myocardial perfusion scintigraphy (MPS) followed for 5.0 years. A best-fit model from CCTA-1 for prediction of death or myocardial infarction was developed, with integer values proportional to regression coefficients. Discrimination was assessed using C-statistic. The validated model was tested for estimation of the likelihood of obstructive coronary artery disease, defined as ≥50% stenosis, as compared with the method of Diamond and Forrester. Primary outcomes included all-cause mortality and nonfatal myocardial infarction. Secondary outcomes included prevalent angiographically obstructive coronary artery disease.

Results: In CCTA-1, best-fit model discriminated individuals at risk of death or myocardial infarction (C-statistic 0.76). The integer model ranged from 3 to 13, corresponding to 3-year death risk or myocardial infarction of 0.25% to 53.8%. When applied to CCTA-2 and MPS cohorts, the model demonstrated C-statistics of 0.71 and 0.77, respectively. Both best-fit (C = 0.76; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.746-0.771) and integer models (C = 0.71; 95% CI, 0.693-0.719) performed better than Diamond and Forrester (C = 0.64; 95% CI, 0.628-0.659) for estimating obstructive coronary artery disease.

Conclusions: For stable symptomatic patients with suspected coronary artery disease, we developed a history-based method for prediction of death and obstructive coronary artery disease.

Keywords: Coronary artery disease; Diagnosis; Prognosis.

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Algorithms
  • Coronary Angiography
  • Coronary Artery Disease / complications
  • Coronary Artery Disease / diagnosis*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Medical History Taking*
  • Middle Aged
  • Myocardial Infarction / diagnosis
  • Myocardial Infarction / mortality
  • Prognosis
  • Proportional Hazards Models
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Risk Assessment / methods*
  • Risk Factors
  • Tomography, X-Ray Computed
  • Young Adult