Pilot Study of A-FABP Levels as a Predictive Factor of SPECT Results in Asymptomatic Relatives of Patients with Cardiovascular Disease

Abstract

Background: A-FABP is a promising link between metabolic syndrome and atherosclerosis. It is not well known whether level of A-FABP predicts results of SPECT. Patients & methods: In 82 subjects (53 males) with a median age of 54 years, who were first-degree relatives of patients with cardiovascular disease, the following tests and examinations were performed: A-FABP, calcium score (CS) and SPECT. Results: Subjects with positive and negative SPECT results differed significantly in the noncategorized CS (p = 0.001), uric acid (p = 0.025) and the total cholesterol:high-density lipoprotein ratio (p = 0.043), but not in other parameters (including A-FABP). To predict SPECT results, the best model proved to be a logistic regression model with gender and noncategorized CS as predictors, with an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.89 (the sensitivity and specificity based on a CS cutoff of 11.1 were 77.78 and 75.34%, respectively). Conclusion: The serum level of A-FABP is not a predictor of a positive SPECT result.

Keywords::

• A-FABP
• cardiovascular prevention
• first-degree relatives
• stress-gated SPECT prediction

Financial & competing interests disclosure

The authors gratefully acknowledge the support by the Operational Program Education for Competitiveness – European Social Fund (project CZ.1.07/2.3.00/20.0170 of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic). The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.

Ethical conduct of research

The authors state that they have obtained appropriate insti­tutional review board approval or have followed the princi­ples outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki for all human or animal experimental investigations. In addition, for investi­gations involving human subjects, informed consent has been obtained from the participants involved.

Additional information

Funding

The authors gratefully acknowledge the support by the Operational Program Education for Competitiveness – European Social Fund (project CZ.1.07/2.3.00/20.0170 of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic). The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.