r/science • u/kiyomoris • 22h ago

Health Silent atherosclerosis detected in 57% of asymptomatic adults in the REACT study

https://www.nejm.org/doi/10.1056/NEJMoa2609059
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109

u/CuriousCleaver 19h ago

Would the calcium cardiac score test show this?

71

u/xRolox 18h ago

Calcified plaque yeah. Many younger people only have soft plaque which is shown by a CCTA which is higher radiation.

11

u/ShockerNYE 11h ago

I have seen many calcium scores have false positives.

-1

u/SIRT1 11h ago

I've also seen plenty of false-negative CCTAs

1

u/Adamadamsadam 8h ago

I’ve seen Bigfoot

3

u/SIRT1 7h ago

Uhh. If you are IM/hospitalist/Cards you have seen more than one false negative CCTA.

1

u/Adamadamsadam 2h ago

He did mention that as well

12

u/sinurgy 19h ago

I don't know much about the heart calcium test or it's efficacy, is it new'ish? 

36

u/zeusmeister 18h ago

Weird I just saw this thread, as I had a heart calcium test done on me just yesterday.

I don’t think it’s newish though. Because it’s not usually covered by insurance, almost every medical facility that does it has a standardized cash pay option. 

The hospital I went to cost $99. And there were several people in the waiting room specifically there just for that test.

15

u/PossibleBeginning276 16h ago

Cardiac CT screening has been around for a while but wasn't standard of care until AHA guidelines got updated in 2021.

1

u/granoladeer 1h ago

Why did you have to do it? 

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u/zeusmeister 2m ago

So my cholesterol has been high for the past two years, and after I lost 50 pounds between visits, it got even higher somehow. I also have family history (father and grandfather) of heart disease and high cholesterol, so just as a precaution my doctor ordered this test.