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BackgroundDiagnostic testing in the care of patients newly presenting with symptoms suggestive of coronary artery disease may influence risk factor management, independent of test type or test results. However, little is known about changes in medications and lifestyle after anatomical or functional testing.Methods and resultsWe examined what factors influenced preventive medical therapy and lifestyle practices at 60 days among 10 003 symptomatic patients (53% women; mean age 61 years) randomly assigned to anatomical testing with coronary computed tomographic angiography or functional testing (NCT01174550). We also assessed the association of preventive changes with major cardiovascular events. There were no differences in medications/lifestyle at baseline. At 60 days, relative to baseline, the computed tomographic angiography strategy was associated with a higher proportion of patients newly initiating aspirin (11.8% versus 7.8%), statins (12.7% versus 6.2%), and β-blockers (8.1% versus 5.3%), compared to functional testing (P

Background: Diagnostic testing in the care of patients newly presenting with symptoms suggestive of coronary artery disease may influence risk factor management, independent of test type or test results. However, little is known about changes in medications and lifestyle after anatomical or functional testing. Methods and Results: We examined what factors influenced preventive medical therapy and lifestyle practices at 60 days among 10 003 symptomatic patients (53% women; mean age 61 years) randomly assigned to anatomical testing with coronary computed tomographic angiography or functional testing (NCT01174550). We also assessed the association of preventive changes with major cardiovascular events. There were no differences in medications/lifestyle at baseline. At 60 days, relative to baseline, the computed tomographic angiography strategy was associated with a higher proportion of patients newly initiating aspirin (11.8% versus 7.8%), statins (12.7% versus 6.2%), and β‐blockers (8.1% versus 5.3%), compared to functional testing (P<0.0001 for each). No significant differences between computed tomographic angiography and functional testing strategies were observed for initiation of exercise, quitting smoking, or weight loss in overweight/obese patients, though overall prevalence of healthy eating was higher after computed tomographic angiography (P=0.002) while obese/overweight status was lower (P=0.040). Positive initial test results and revascularization demonstrated stronger associations with preventive medications and lifestyle than test type. Medication initiation was not associated with fewer cardiovascular events. Conclusions: Positive initial test results and revascularization are primary drivers of changes in preventive medical and lifestyle practices, with test type making secondary contributions. However, substantial opportunities exist to further reduce cardiovascular risk. Clinical Trial Registration URL: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov. Unique identifier: NCT01174550.

Background: Optimal management of patients with stable chest pain relies on the prognostic information provided by noninvasive cardiovascular testing, but there are limited data from randomized trials comparing anatomic with functional testing.Methods: In the PROMISE trial (Prospective Multicenter Imaging Study for Evaluation of Chest Pain), patients with stable chest pain and intermediate pretest probability for obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD) were randomly assigned to functional testing (exercise electrocardiography, nuclear stress, or stress echocardiography) or coronary computed tomography angiography (CTA). Site-based diagnostic test reports were classified as normal or mildly, moderately, or severely abnormal. The primary end point was death, myocardial infarction, or unstable angina hospitalizations over a median follow-up of 26.1 months.Results: Both the prevalence of normal test results and incidence rate of events in these patients were significantly lower among 4500 patients randomly assigned to CTA in comparison with 4602 patients randomly assigned to functional testing (33.4% versus 78.0%, and 0.9% versus 2.1%, respectively; both P<0.001). In CTA, 54.0% of events (n=74/137) occurred in patients with nonobstructive CAD (1%-69% stenosis). Prevalence of obstructive CAD and myocardial ischemia was low (11.9% versus 12.7%, respectively), with both findings having similar prognostic value (hazard ratio, 3.74; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.60-5.39; and 3.47; 95% CI, 2.42-4.99). When test findings were stratified as mildly, moderately, or severely abnormal, hazard ratios for events in comparison with normal tests increased proportionally for CTA (2.94, 7.67, 10.13; all P<0.001) but not for corresponding functional testing categories (0.94 [P=0.87], 2.65 [P=0.001], 3.88 [P<0.001]). The discriminatory ability of CTA in predicting events was significantly better than functional testing (c-index, 0.72; 95% CI, 0.68-0.76 versus 0.64; 95% CI, 0.59-0.69; P=0.04). If 2714 patients with at least an intermediate Framingham Risk Score (>10%) who had a normal functional test were reclassified as being mildly abnormal, the discriminatory capacity improved to 0.69 (95% CI, 0.64-0.74).Conclusions: Coronary CTA, by identifying patients at risk because of nonobstructive CAD, provides better prognostic information than functional testing in contemporary patients who have stable chest pain with a low burden of obstructive CAD, myocardial ischemia, and events.Clinical Trial Registration: URL: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov. Unique identifier: NCT01174550. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study that compared outcomes of anatomical versus functional testing for coronary artery disease (CAD). Topics discussed include patient characteristics at baseline, outcome measures, and cardiac catheterization and radiation data. It was concluded that an initial strategy of computed tomographic angiography (CTA) was not associated with better clinical outcomes than functional testing in symptomatic patients with suspected CAD who required noninvasive testing.