Letter to the Editor on “Traditional Cardiovascular Risk Factors Strongly Underestimate the 5-Year Occurrence of Cardiovascular Morbidity and Mortality in Spinal Cord Injured Individuals”

Barton et al's1 article studies cardiovascular risk in a cohort of individuals with a spinal cord injury (SCI). As the authors noted, the Framingham Risk Score (FRS) was derived to identify risk factors for cardiovascular disease. It is important to note, however, that the outcome measure for this risk score is defined as a “composite of coronary heart disease (coronary death, myocardial infarction, coronary insufficiency, and angina), cerebrovascular events (including ischemic stroke, hemorrhagic stoke, and transient ischemic attack), peripheral artery disease (intermittent claudication), and heart failure.”2 This composite outcome does not include pulmonary embolism, chronic venous insufficiency, deep venous thrombosis, atrial fibrillation/flutter, or aortic aneurysms, valve diseases or dissection, as was used in Barton et al's study.
Source: Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation - Category: Rehabilitation Authors: Tags: Letter to the Editor Source Type: research