Clogged Arteries? Your Heart Might be at Risk

A new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association has found that people with clogged arteries have a one-in-seven chance of dying. The risk of having a heart attack or stroke or of being admitted to a hospital within a year of being diagnosed with clogged arteries is also the same. The patients remain at risk even if they feel perfectly healthy.

Clogged arteries or atherothrombosis (including CAD, CVD and PAD) is known to be one of the biggest reasons for heart attacks and strokes. However no other study so far has put such exact figures on the chances of death due to clogged arteries or even on the chances of when a patient might suffer a life-threatening event on account of the condition.

Sponsored jointly by pharmaceutical giants Bristol-Myers Squibb and Sanofi-Aventis, the study covered 68,236 patients across 44 countries. The patients were registered with 5,587 physicians in these countries and were all part of the Reduction of Atherothrombosis for Continued Health (REACH) Registry.

All patients either had established atherosclerotic arterial disease or at least three risk factors for atherothrombosis, such as obesity, high blood pressure or diabetes. The researchers gathered one-year follow-up data on the patients from the physicians for their study analysis. Led by Dr. Gabriel Steg, of the Hôpital Bichat-Claude Bernard, Paris, the research team examined the characteristics and CV event rates of the patients.

They found that patients with established disease overall have about a one-in-seven chance of death, heart attack or stroke within one year of diagnosis. They are also equally likely to be admitted to a hospital due to cardiovascular disease within the year. Such patients are also at two to three times the risk of dying or being hospitalised in comparison to people with multiple risk factors but not so badly damaged arteries.

The chances of dying, having a heart attack or stroke or being hospitalised are even higher – one-in-five – for patients who have clogged arteries in the legs, a condition known as peripheral artery disease. For patients with clogged arteries in more than one location in the body, such as the heart, brain or legs, the risk is doubled.

“Don’t be deceived,” Dr. Deepak Bhatt, a Cleveland Clinic cardiologist and one of the study’s authors, said. “There is a pretty high chance they will come back with a problem with their vascular system,” Dr. Bhatt said. “They might feel they have been cured, but the underlying buildup of plaque is still ongoing. That one in seven (risk) may seem kind of low, but from a public health standpoint, that is pretty high to see in a stable patient,” he added.

Drawing conclusions from their findings, the study authors estimate that the US alone might witness as many as 1.75 million deaths, heart attacks, strokes or related hospitalisations over the next 12 months.

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