Community-Based Cardiovascular Screening: Detection of Disease in Individuals with No Self-Reported Risk Factors

Introduction: Community-based cardiovascular screening presents an opportunity to detect the presence of cardiovascular disease in individuals who report having no traditional risk factors, and also to identify the presence of those risk factors in those who are unaware of their health status. Identification of both disease and risk factors (e.g. high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes, etc.) creates an opportunity for treatment and management to reduce and prevent cardiovascular events from occurring. Methods: Over 230,000 screening records for individuals who had undergone carotid artery stenosis (CAD), abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA), or peripheral artery disease (PAD) screening were reviewed. Participants were stratified based on self-reported risk factors as having no risk factors, one risk factor, or two or more risk factors. Self-reported risk factors were also compared with results of screening for blood pressure, blood glucose, and lipid level status. Results: Abnormal findings of CAS, AAA, and PAD were all uncovered in individuals who self-reported as having no traditional risk factors. These abnormal findings included those defined as severe. The review of self-reported risk factors for accuracy demonstrated varying levels of inaccuracies in both under and over-reporting of risk factors. Conclusions: Community-based cardiovascular screening may result in the identification of cardiovascular disease in individuals with no established risk factors. While the underreporting of risk factors has also be demonstrated, it is clear that further research is warranted to better understand the presence of disease in the absence of risk factors.