NEW YORK, Nov. 18 (UPI) --Predicting who is at high risk for a heart attack or death may be as simple as obtaining a person's coronary artery calcium score -- a noninvasive way to measure plaque ...

Atherosclerosis causes the smooth, elastic lining of the coronary arteries to become hard, stiff, and swollen because of ...

In an observational study, they followed a cohort of 98 asymptomatic individuals with very high coronary calcium scores (score ≥1000) for an average of 17±11 months (range, 4-36 months).

Coronary calcium typically progresses at 20% or more per year, and among individuals over the age of 45 years, approximately 7% of those without calcium develop detectable coronary calcium per year.

A couple of my friends in similar situations took the nuclear stress test (due to age and diabetes); one ended up with two stents, and another underwent triple bypass surgery. Neither had any prior ...