Presented at #ACC26:
Among patients with a preserved ejection fraction at least 1 year after myocardial infarction, stopping beta-blockers was noninferior to continuing therapy with respect to major clinical outcomes. Full SMART-DECISION trial results: https://t.co/dZS03RaTcA
@ACCinTouch
🫀💊 The aspirin conundrum—solved (partly) by genetics
This 2025 American Journal of Preventive Cardiology State-of-the-Art Review tackles one of the longest-running dilemmas in prevention: why does low-dose aspirin help some people—but harm others? The answer may lie in Lp(a) genetics .
⚖️ The classic problem
In primary prevention, aspirin reduces myocardial infarction—but increases major bleeding to a similar extent. At the population level, benefits and harms cancel out, leading guidelines to largely step back from routine aspirin use.
🧬 Enter Lp(a) and the LPA genotype
The review focuses on a specific LPA polymorphism (rs3798220), present in ~3–4% of individuals, strongly associated with:
markedly elevated Lp(a) levels
increased atherothrombotic risk
Crucially, three large studies (Women’s Health Study, ARIC, ASPREE) show a consistent pattern:
In LPA-negative individuals → aspirin provides minimal benefit (very high NNT: 250–800)
In LPA-positive individuals → aspirin dramatically reduces cardiovascular events, bringing their risk down to the level of non-carriers
📊 The numbers matter
In LPA carriers:
Relative risk reduction: ~55–80%
Absolute risk reduction: ~2.7–3%
Number needed to treat (NNT): ~34–38👉 Comparable to, or better than, many statin trials.
🧠 Why this makes sense biologically
Lp(a) promotes thrombosis via its plasminogen-like structure. Aspirin doesn’t lower Lp(a) levels—but may neutralize its pro-thrombotic effect.
⚠️ Important caveats
Evidence is based on post-hoc genetic analyses
Most data come from European ancestry
Bleeding risk still exists and must be individualized
🔮 Bottom line
This paper reframes aspirin not as a blunt population tool—but as a precision therapy.
👉 For most people, aspirin isn’t worth it.
For a genetically defined few, it may be exactly right.
🧭 Sometimes, the problem isn’t the drug—it’s who we give it to.
Aspirin didn’t fail primary prevention.
We failed to choose the right patients.
Here’s the missing biology 👇
1- The aspirin paradox
Aspirin in primary prevention:
• Fewer heart attacks
• More major bleeds
In average patients → benefit cancels harm.
So we blamed the drug.
That was the mistake.
2- Risk is not average
Two patients.
Same LDL. Same BP. Same risk score.
But one clots more.
That difference has a name:
👉 Lipoprotein(a)
3- Lp(a) changes the rules
Lp(a) is:
• Genetic
• Lifelong
• Pro-atherogenic and pro-thrombotic
Some patients don’t fail because of cholesterol.
They fail because of thrombosis.
4-One gene flips the story
📍 LPA rs3798220
Carriers:
• Much higher CV risk
• Aspirin reduces that risk to baseline
Numbers that matter:
• NNT (others): 250–800
• NNT (LPA carriers): ~35
That’s statin-level benefit.
Aspirin isn’t for everyone.
But for the right genotype, it works.
A one-time, low-cost test
turns aspirin from blunt medicine
into precision prevention.
📚 Am J Prev Cardiol 2025
#Aspirin #PrecisionMedicine #LipoproteinA #PreventiveCardiology @DrAkhilX @IhabFathiSulima@CelestinoGutirr
🫀🎯 LDL-C targets should follow plaque, not labels: CAC reframes prevention
This 2025 American Journal of Preventive Cardiology commentary argues for a long-overdue shift in lipid management: LDL-C targets should be driven by coronary plaque burden, not by the artificial primary vs secondary prevention divide .
🧠 The core problem
Traditional prevention frameworks rely on risk calculators and binary categories:
Primary prevention → “moderate” LDL targets
Secondary prevention → aggressive LDL lowering
But coronary artery calcium (CAC) exposes a large, overlooked group: patients with advanced subclinical atherosclerosis whose risk rivals—or exceeds—that of patients with prior ASCVD events.
📊 What CAC really tells us
CAC is a direct measure of cumulative coronary plaque, integrating lifetime exposure to risk factors. The evidence is clear:
CAC >100 → risk well beyond what calculators predict
CAC ≥300 → MACE rates comparable to established ASCVD
CAC ≥1000 → extreme risk, clearly “secondary-prevention–level”
Yet many of these patients are still treated conservatively because they’ve never had an event.
🎯 Advancing the 2022 ACC ECDP (Figure 6)
The authors build on the 2022 ACC Expert Consensus Decision Pathway and propose:
🔹 CAC >100 → LDL-C <70 mg/dL
🔥 CAC >300 (or >90th percentile) → LDL-C <55 mg/dL, equivalent to secondary prevention
🚨 CAC ≥1000 → upfront combination therapy (statin + ezetimibe ± PCSK9)
This is a “see disease, treat disease” philosophy.
⚠️ Why this matters
Risk scores predict events.
CAC detects disease.
Relying on population averages delays therapy in people who already have advanced atherosclerosis—while overtreating others with no plaque at all.
🔮 Bottom line
CAC dissolves the false comfort of “primary prevention.”
👉 When plaque burden is high, prevention should be just as aggressive as after an MI.
Precision prevention doesn’t start with calculators.
It starts with seeing atherosclerosis—and acting accordingly ��
🤰 GLP-1 medicines in pregnancy is contraindicated and should be discontinued at least 2 months before a planned pregnancy.
🫀🧠 Those with inadvertent exposure in the first trimester did not manifest any increase in fetal kidney or cardiac abnormalities compared to matched controls, according to a retrospective cohort study of 3652 women with T2DM.
More research is needed to guide the safe use of GLP1s before pregnancy.
https://t.co/vK7yjAI96T