Commentary on Comparison of Coronary Artery Calcification Scores, National Cholesterol Education Program Guidelines for Coronary Heart Disease Risk Assessment, Treatment Paradigms in Individuals with Chronic Traumatic Spinal Injury

Abstract

This commentary considers the implications of the findings related to the effect of a study related to coronary heart disease (CHD) risk assessment in individuals with a chronic spinal cord injury (SCI). The findings from the study suggest that there is poor agreement in CHD risk assessment between the previously used guidelines, the National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) Guidelines, and coronary artery calcium scores (CACS). Since this publication, a new atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) risk estimator has been developed. This has not been used in any study with SCI participants. The study also showed that 18 (47.4%) of the participants had some element of CAC, indicating the presence of CHD. Many previous articles have discussed CHD risk factors and mortality in the SCI population. Despite this, there have been very few interventions to decrease the CHD risk in the chronic SCI population.