Short summary

In the DanRisk study, SCORE, one of the best cardiovascular risk stratification scores, is only weakly associated with coronary artery calcium (CAC) in middle aged Danes, underlining the fact that traditional risk markers are not suitable for individual use making cardiovascular risk prediction in individuals inadequate.

Rationale

We aim to investigate this apparent dissociation, and the study runs in 2 phases:

Phase 1: To find new biomarkers that may explain the dissociation between SCORE and CAC, and thus potentially could be used for risk stratification in the future.

Phase 2: Examination of the association between the markers selected from phase 1 and, respectively, the development/ progression of the CAC determined by MSCT (5 year follow-up).

Description of the cohort

In 2009-2010, 1825 randomly sampled women and men from the general population in the region of southern Denmark were invited to take part in a cardiovascular risk screening including cardiac CT-scan (The DanRisk Study). The participants represented an equal number of men and women born in either 1949 or 1959. A total of 1257 subjects (69%) accepted the invitation and were examined in one of four regional centers (Odense, Esbjerg, Svendborg and Vejle).

Data and biological material

• Cardiac CT-scan for estimation of CAC (coronary artery calcification score)
• Blood samples (HbA1c, total cholesterol, LDL, HDL, triglyceride, creatinine, PTH, 25 OHD-vitamine, phosphate, total calcium)
• Urine samples (Urine kreatinin/albumin ratio)
• Measurement of hight, weight, waist and hip- circumference.
• ECG
  Resting HR and blood pressure.
• Medical history ( current medication, previous diseases, smoking habits and family history of CVD).
• SPECT scan and coronary angiography in selected participants.
• Biobank: Serum, P-lihep and P-EDTA.

Collaborating researchers and departments

Department of Cardiology, Odense University Hospital

• Consultant Axel Diederichsen, PhD
• Professor and Consultant Hans Mickley, DMSc

Department of Biochemestry, Pharmacology og Genetics, Odense University Hospital

• Professor and Consultant Lars Melholt Rasmussen, DMSc

Department of Medical Endocrinology, Odense University Hospital

• Professor and Consultant Michael Hecht Olsen, DMSc

Department of Cardiology, Sydvestjysk Sygehus, Esbjerg

• Consultant Niels Peter Rønnow Sand, PhD

Department of Cardiology, Svendborg Sygehus

• Consultant Jess Lambrechtsen, PhD

Department of Cardiology, Vejle Sygehus

• Consultant Flemming Hald Steffensen, PhD

Department of Nuclear Medicine, Odense University Hospital, Odense, Danmark

Centre of Health Economics Research, University of Southern Denmark

• Oke Gerke, MSc., Dr.rer.pol.

Publications associated with the project

Soluble urokinase plasminogen activator receptor is in contrast to high-sensitive C-reactive-protein associated with coronary artery calcifications in healthy middle-aged subjects. / Sørensen, Mette Hjortdal; Gerke, Oke; Eugen-Olsen, Jesper; Munkholm, Henrik; Lambrechtsen, Jess; Sand, Niels Peter Rønnow; Mickley, Hans; Rasmussen, Lars Melholt; Olsen, Michael Hecht; Diederichsen, Axel. In: Atherosclerosis, Vol. 237, No. 1, 02.09.2014, p. 60-66.