What are the key research areas for improving the lifetime risk estimate for ASCVD?
The key research areas for improving the lifetime risk estimate for ASCVD include refinement of the clinician-patient risk discussion, monitoring and adjustment of treatment, and prognostic significance of CAC. Refinement of the clinician-patient risk discussion involves ongoing studies of how a clinician can best interact with a patient to arrive at an informed decision. Monitoring and adjustment of treatment involves an ongoing interaction between the patient and clinician to monitor the effectiveness of therapy and adherence to therapy. The prognostic significance of CAC involves research to amplify the predictive value of intermediate CAC scores and to verify the predictive significance of a CAC score of zero. Follow-up studies should also be done to assess when and if follow-up CAC measurements should be done for patients with a CAC score of zero.  