Atherosclerosis 234 (2014) 73e74
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Atherosclerosis journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/atherosclerosis
Invited commentary
ABI and stroke: Action at a distance and a call to action John W. McEvoy d, Khurram Nasir a, b, c, d, * a
Center for Prevention and Wellness Research, Baptist Health Medical Group, Miami Beach, FL, USA Department of Medicine, Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine, Florida International University, Miami, FL, USA c Department of Epidemiology, Robert Stempel College of Public Health, Florida International University, Miami, FL, USA d The Johns Hopkins Ciccarone Center for the Prevention of Heart Disease, Baltimore, MD, USA b
a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 12 February 2014 Accepted 13 February 2014 Available online 25 February 2014 Keywords: Atherosclerosis Risk prediction Stroke Ankle Brachial Index
Stroke is a catastrophic clinical event and is justifiably feared by both patients and physicians alike. Given the aging demographic of western populations, the morbid consequences of stroke are also a growing burden on healthcare resources [1]. For example, projections show that by 2030 an additional 3.4 million US adults will have suffered a stroke, a 20.5% increase in prevalence from 2012 [2]. The majority of strokes are ischemic and a consequence of either thromboembolism or atherosclerosis or both. Fortunately, effective primary prevention therapies exist, including aspirin [3] and statins [4], which can reduce the risk of ischemic stroke. Accordingly, the identification of individuals at risk for stroke may afford the opportunity to aggressively reduce this risk with personalized preventive therapy. In a previous issue of Atherosclerosis, Gronewold et al. present data from the population-based Heinz-Nixdorf study demonstrating that Ankle-Brachial-Index (ABI) values