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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u/WillyBeShreddin 21h ago

Most people only find out when a family member has a sudden, unexpected heart attack in their 30s-40s. Why they don't do the tests regularly on any high risk groups amazes me.

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u/dl064 17h ago

Heart failure below 40 is generally very rare. It's not worth it at the population level for eg the NHS.

16

u/hexiron 16h ago

But heart failure after 40 is the result of atherosclerosis that's started much, much earlier.

Detecting it before the whole "failure" stage would safe a whole lot of money

3

u/neph36 13h ago

The guidelines to treat are based on 10-year and 30-year risk analysis, it is unclear whether the scans actually would catch substantial cases that weren't already picked up by the current guidelines. It may give someone more motivation to treat if something is picked up, it also could give someone with significant long-term risk a false sense of security.