Faculty members at the UM School of Medicine have created a cutting-edge tool that enables the early identification and assessment of risks in vulnerable patients.
Heart disease, being the leading cause of death globally, has prompted scientists to investigate the compounded effects of multiple risk factors such as hypertension, obesity, and high cholesterol on an individual’s likelihood of suffering from a heart attack or stroke. Utilizing advanced modeling techniques, researchers from the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) have created a novel tool capable of predicting heart disease risk in individuals aged over 40 based on their lifelong exposure to these risk factors.
Their groundbreaking research, recently published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, leveraged data from the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) study. CARDIA, which tracked nearly 5,000 healthy young adults from four cities in the US for three decades, provided the researchers with data that allowed them to calculate the combined effects of individual risk factors like hypertension, diabetes, and high cholesterol. Moreover, they were able to measure the additive impact of multiple risk factors leading to cardiovascular disease.
“These data make clear the importance of instituting risk-factor reduction strategies as early in life as is feasible to reduce time-related cumulative exposure to harmful risks,” said study lead author Michael J. Domanski, MD, Professor of Medicine, at UMSOM. “These results suggest that a self-declared Black racial status is a marker of underlying and unexplained differences in risk-factor impact.”
The results of this study could help guide physicians in developing personalized prevention strategies for individual patients. Public health policymakers also could use the new risk calculation tool to assess the likely impact of proposed heart disease prevention programs, while researchers could use it to help design clinical trials to test heart disease prevention strategies.
“By examining the long-term impact of multiple risk factors on cardiovascular disease, our study highlights the importance of cumulative exposure in determining an individual’s risk,” said Xin Tian, Ph.D., Adjunct Professor at UMSOM, and a biostatistician at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). “Our findings underscore the need for personalized prevention strategies that address both the time course and severity of these risk factors. As scientists, our duty is to use this knowledge to inform the development of effective prevention and intervention strategies that can reduce the burden of cardiovascular disease on individuals and society as a whole.”
The R Shiny app, developed in this study, is a tool that allows medical providers to insert cardiovascular risks, patient history, and patient race to determine individual risks and how best to address them. Electronic medical records are now widely available, making the development of tools such as the R Shiny app possible. R Shiny can be used to estimate cardiovascular risks after age 40 based on the severity of risk factors earlier in adulthood. The app is hosted on NHLBI’s website.
“Our study demonstrates the power of innovative statistical data-science approaches in enabling biomedical researchers to gain deeper insights into complex health issues, such as cardiovascular disease. We were able to develop risk prediction models that provide a more accurate and personalized assessment of an individual’s risk,” said Colin Wu, Ph.D., Adjunct Professor of Medicine at UMSOM and a mathematical statistician at NHLBI, part of NIH.
During the two-decade follow-up period after age 40, the researchers found that 316 people in the study experienced their first cardiovascular event, including heart disease, strokes, and congestive heart failure.
“This new tool could be used by cardiologists to convince patients to take the necessary steps to lower their risk of heart attack or stroke by quantifying how much their risk would improve if they better managed, for example, their cholesterol and hypertension,” said Mark Gladwin, MD, Dean, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Vice President for Medical Affairs, University of Maryland, Baltimore, and the John Z. and Akiko K. Bowers Distinguished Professor. “That could have a significant impact, particularly in vulnerable populations who have not been aggressively treated for cardiovascular risks in the past due to long-standing health inequities.”
![](https://www.nanoappsmedical.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/spacer.jpg)
News
The Silent Battle Within: How Your Organs Choose Between Mom and Dad’s Genes
Research reveals that selective expression of maternal or paternal X chromosomes varies by organ, driven by cellular competition. A new study published today (July 26) in Nature Genetics by the Lymphoid Development Group at the MRC [...]
Study identifies genes increasing risk of severe COVID-19
Whether or not a person becomes seriously ill with COVID-19 depends, among other things, on genetic factors. With this in mind, researchers from the University Hospital Bonn (UKB) and the University of Bonn, in [...]
Small regions of the brain can take micro-naps while the rest of the brain is awake and vice versa
Sleep and wake: They're totally distinct states of being that define the boundaries of our daily lives. For years, scientists have measured the difference between these instinctual brain processes by observing brain waves, with [...]
Redefining Consciousness: Small Regions of the Brain Can Take Micro-Naps While the Rest of the Brain Is Awake
The study broadly reveals how fast brain waves, previously overlooked, establish fundamental patterns of sleep and wakefulness. Scientists have developed a new method to analyze sleep and wake states by detecting ultra-fast neuronal activity [...]
AI Reveals Health Secrets Through Facial Temperature Mapping
Researchers have found that different facial temperatures correlate with chronic illnesses like diabetes and high blood pressure, and these can be detected using AI with thermal cameras. They highlight the potential of this technology [...]
Breakthrough in aging research: Blocking IL-11 extends lifespan and improves health in mice
In a recent study published in the journal Nature, a team of researchers used murine models and various pharmacological and genetic approaches to examine whether pro-inflammatory signaling involving interleukin (IL)-11, which activates signaling molecules such [...]
Promise for a universal influenza vaccine: Scientists validate theory using 1918 flu virus
New research led by Oregon Health & Science University reveals a promising approach to developing a universal influenza vaccine—a so-called "one and done" vaccine that confers lifetime immunity against an evolving virus. The study, [...]
New Projects Aim To Pioneer the Future of Neuroscience
One study will investigate the alterations in brain activity at the cellular level caused by psilocybin, the psychoactive substance found in “magic mushrooms.” How do neurons respond to the effects of magic mushrooms? What [...]
Decoding the Decline: Scientific Insights Into Long COVID’s Retreat
Research indicates a significant reduction in long COVID risk, largely due to vaccination and the virus’s evolution. The study analyzes data from over 441,000 veterans, showing lower rates of long COVID among vaccinated individuals compared [...]
Silicon Transformed: A Breakthrough in Laser Nanofabrication
A new method enables precise nanofabrication inside silicon using spatial light modulation and laser pulses, creating advanced nanostructures for potential use in electronics and photonics. Silicon, the cornerstone of modern electronics, photovoltaics, and photonics, [...]
Caught in the actinium: New research could help design better cancer treatments
The element actinium was first discovered at the turn of the 20th century, but even now, nearly 125 years later, researchers still don't have a good grasp on the metal's chemistry. That's because actinium [...]
Innovative Light-Controlled Drugs Could Revolutionize Neuropathic Pain Treatment
A team of researchers from the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) has developed light-activated derivatives of the anti-epileptic drug carbamazepine to treat neuropathic pain. Light can be harnessed to target drugs to specific [...]
Green Gold: Turning E-Waste Into a Treasure Trove of Rare Earth Metals
Scientists are developing a process inspired by nature that efficiently recovers europium from old fluorescent lamps. The approach could lead to the long-awaited recycling of rare earth metals. A small molecule that naturally serves [...]
Cambridge Study: AI Chatbots Have an “Empathy Gap,” and It Could Be Dangerous
A new study suggests a framework for “Child Safe AI” in response to recent incidents showing that many children perceive chatbots as quasi-human and reliable. A study has indicated that AI chatbots often exhibit [...]
Nanoparticle-based delivery system could offer treatment for diabetics with rare insulin allergy
Up to 3% of people with diabetes have an allergic reaction to insulin. A team at Forschungszentrum Jülich has now studied a method that could be used to deliver the active substance into the [...]
Nanorobot kills cancer cells in mice with hidden weapon
Researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have developed nanorobots that kill cancer cells in mice. The robot's weapon is hidden in a nanostructure and is exposed only in the tumor microenvironment, sparing healthy cells. [...]