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What would you do in my situation? Should I be worried?
I'm 6 foot (see weight details below) currently I'm 53.
I've been on a statin for the last 25 years and it keeps my cholesterol under check nicely.
I exercise regularly (i.e. I walk 100+ miles a month), I eat good food but do over-eat. I live in California where the summer fruits are so good I can't help but eat alot of them!
As part of turning 50, I did the usual battery of tests including doing a heart stress test that was fine. But I asked to do a Calcium Heart Scan and the results aren't awful, but they are a bit disturbing given my age and that I'm in the 88 percentile! Cardiologist and I are meeting soon but he's a hands off kind of person who needs to be prodded a bit (i.e. I had to prod him to do the Calcium Heart Scan).
FINDINGS: Agatston Coronary Calcium Score:
LMA: 0
LAD: 144
LCX: 8
RCA: 0
Total: 152
Percentile: 88%
The coronary arteries arise from the expected sinuses of Valsalva. Moderate coronary artery calcification. The coronary artery calcium score defined by Agatston amounts to 152. The estimated probability of a non-zero calcium score for a white Male of age 53 is 50%. The Agatston score is 152, which places the patient at the 88th percentile adjusted for age, gender, and race/ethnicity based on the MESA trial cohort. CARDIOVASCULAR FINDINGS: Vessels: Aorta and pulmonary artery are not significantly dilated. Heart and Pericardium: Normal. Extra-coronary Calcification: None
My high-school weight was 170
Ages 20-35 I kept my weight under 200 pounds.
Ages 35-45 I shot up to 240 pounds.
Ages 45-53 (current age) I'm back around 190.
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88th percentile means a higher calcium score than 88% of people that age/gender/race. Not good, in other words.
This is what I assumed, but as I said, I haven't gone looking for an interpretation. Thanks for clearing that up. It rings true, and seems the most reasonable.
88%ile would be higher than 87 % of the population.
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1 ReactionI would love to know the answer to your question! Does it put you in a high-risk with a low risk at 88%?
Yes, I went back and forth between 87 and 88, and eventually put 88. It's high risk with either number. 🙂
High risk. 88th means you have *more* plaque than 87% of the group. That's bad, not good.
If you were in the first percentile, then 99% of the group has more plaque than you, which is a good thing for you.
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2 ReactionsThe way percentile works (x%ile) is that each percentile number represents a small line on a ruler of sorts, like 1/16" (" = 'of an inch'). On a standard normal distribution curve, also known as a Bell curve, the area below each point, or percentile mark, on the curve represents a small portion of the population. The whole area under the curve line LEFT OF any one vertical line dropping down to the X axis from one of the %ile marks is 'lesser' than what is being measured on the whole population. So, for example, you see a Bell curve. You pick a point along that curve, it might be the 54%ile, and you draw a vertical line down from that point to the X axis. That thin line is all the people, out of the entire population represented under the curve (could be a curve dealing with 'all people at risk for an infarction due to deposition of atherosclerotic plaque), who fall into the single %ile of 54. Now, you look left of that thin line, and there is a large area under the curve. That area holds all the people who fall in the 53%ile, the 52%ile, the 51%ile, and so on down to the 1%ile. There is no '0' (zero) percentile because there is no 'nobody' represented under the curve....only live people.
To the right of your thin vertical line fall all the 55%ile, 56%ile, and on up to the 99%ile. There is no 100%ile because, again, there is no 'nobody' outside of every body added into what comprises all 99% of living bodies who would have to be alive in order to assign any risk to them.
I hope that all makes sense. Whew! Haven't dealt with that in 40 years.
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