First presentation of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease in previously healthy individuals: The multi-ethnic study of atherosclerosis.

Abstract

Aim: To evaluate the first presentation of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) in individuals without known ASCVD.

Methods: Distribution of first ASCVD events (angina, stroke, myocardial infarction [MI], or death/resuscitated cardiac arrest [RCA]), and the association between traditional risk factors, coronary artery calcium (CAC) and lipoprotein(a) [Lp(a)] with these events in Cox proportional hazards models were evaluated in 6779 participants in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis. Risk prediction improvement with addition of CAC to the pooled cohort equations (PCE) was evaluated using net reclassification improvement (NRI).

Results: The mean age was 62.1 ± 10.2 years and 1037 participants (15.3 %) experienced an ASCVD event over a median of 15.8 years. The most common first presentation was cardiovascular death/RCA (n = 287;27.7 %). Among those with events, Black (35.6 %, p = 0.001)) individuals more often presented with death/RCA, Hispanic (29.3 %, p = 0.037) individuals more often presented with stroke compared to White individuals (24.8 % and 21.7 %, respectively). Compared to men, women more frequently presented with stroke (29.5 vs. 20.7 %, p = 0.002) and death/RCA (29.8 vs 26.3 %, p = 0.243) though this did not meet statistical significance. CAC score was significantly associated with first presentation of all events, including death/RCA (HR 1.13, 95 % CI 1.07-1.19) and improved risk prediction when added to the PCE (continuous NRI 0.6081, 95 % CI 0.4971-0.7141). Lp(a) was significantly associated with MI only (HR 1.15 per SD, 95 % CI 1.02-1.29).

Conclusions: In previously asymptomatic individuals, the most common initial presentation of ASCVD was death/resuscitated cardiac arrest, particularly among women, minority groups, and those with CAC. CAC scoring may identify individuals at risk for death/resuscitated cardiac arrest as a first presentation of ASCVD.