Screening for Coronary Heart Disease

Release Date: February 2004

Summary of Recommendations / Supporting Documents

Summary of Recommendations

• The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommends against routine screening with resting electrocardiography (ECG), exercise treadmill test (ETT), or electron-beam computerized tomography (EBCT) scanning for coronary calcium for either the presence of severe coronary artery stenosis (CAS) or the prediction of coronary heart disease (CHD) events in adults at low risk for CHD events.
  Grade: D Recommendation.
• The USPSTF found insufficient evidence to recommend for or against routine screening with ECG, ETT, or EBCT scanning for coronary calcium for either the presence of severe CAS or the prediction of CHD events in adults at increased risk for CHD events.
  Grade: I Statement.

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Supporting Documents

Screening for Coronary Heart Disease, February 2004
Recommendation Statement (PDF File, 80 KB; PDF Help)
Summary of the Evidence (PDF File, 245 KB; PDF Help)
Systematic Evidence Review PDF File, 2 MB; PDF Help)
Patient Brochures and Clinician Fact Sheets
Video: How to Talk with Your Patients When Evidence Is Insufficient (3:20 minutes, Windows Media®)

Note: If you cannot see the captioning in Windows Media® Player, press "CTRL + SHIFT + C" (or select: Play > Captions and Subtitles > Captions).

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Current as of February 2004

Internet Citation:

Screening for Coronary Heart Disease, Topic Page. February 2004. U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. http://www.ahrq.gov/clinic/uspstf/uspsacad.htm