Clues to cardiovascular risk: an office-based approach

Current tools for predicting coronary heart disease risk in the asymptomatic patient fall into 2 major categories: traditional population-based models and noninvasive imaging techniques. Population-based models that estimate cardiovascular risk are powerful clinical tools but do not utilize a large volume of patient-specific data that are readily available to the clinician and may help to identify at-risk patients. The use of high-technology noninvasive imaging has not been consistently validated and clinicians or patients often lack the resources for such testing. This paper reviews several commonly encountered historical, physical, radiologic, laboratory, and electrocardiographic markers of increased cardiovascular risk that may enhance clinicians' ability to identify individual patients at increased risk for coronary heart disease.