Pokorski R
Use of carotid intima-media thickness in an insurance context. [Journal Article]
J Insur Med 2009; 41(2):127-31.
Measurement of carotid intima-media thickness (CIMI) with B-mode ultrasound is a non invasive technique for identifying subclinical vascular disease and estimating risk of future cardiovascular disease (CVD), such as myocardial infarction (MI), stroke, and death from coronary heart disease (CHD). Although the optimal use of CIMT has not been determined, the prevailing opinion is that it improves clinical risk prediction beyond the benefits of using only the traditional cardiovascular risk factors. The reason is because CIMT can detect early subclinical disease, and thus it's both a risk factor and a marker of CVD risk. CIMT thus has the potential to increase the accuracy of risk classification. The problem from both a clinical and an insurance perspective is the absence of reliable data that relate CIMT measurements to CVD incidence rates.
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