AHA Scientific Sessions 2026 AbstractNov 9, 2026, 00:39 GMT

Calcium scans led to fewer statin recommendations in older adults

Calcium-scan guidance prompted recommendations to consider or start statins for 27% of older participants, compared with 90% under traditional risk-score guidance.

Paper by Jeffrey Anderson, Heidi T May, Tyler Winslow, +5Joseph B Muhlestein · Intermountain Med Cntr

A coronary artery with calcium deposits crosses a heart beneath two groups of upright figures, one mostly gray and the other mostly black.

Our read

Interventions

Studied:: Randomized trial in 2,590 adults aged 65 or older, 4.2±1.2 years, against PCE
What changed:: Statin recommendations were lower with calcium scans than with PCE: 27% against 90%
The catch:: Costs, side effects, and adherence were not reported
In the record:: One of 3 papers on coronary artery calcium-guided statin recommendations on record: 2 with results in people.

Editor of record: Boris Djordjevic · AgingResearch.News

Paper

The 2,590 adults aged 65 or older in a planned subgroup analysis of a randomized trial had no diabetes and had not used statins. The trial compared statin recommendations based on traditional risk factors with recommendations based on scans measuring calcium in the arteries supplying the heart. Primary care clinicians decided whether to prescribe.

Recommendations to consider or start statins were much less frequent with scan guidance. Over an average study duration of 4.2 years, the strategies did not differ significantly in the combined outcome of death, nonfatal heart attack, nonfatal stroke or a procedure to restore arterial blood flow. The range of likely effects included no difference. Death rates also did not differ significantly between strategies.

Why it matters

Age weighs heavily in traditional cardiovascular risk scores. The trial examined whether measuring artery calcium could help guide preventive statin prescribing in older adults.

Caveats

The wide range of likely effects did not establish that the strategies were equally effective, and the conference abstract did not report side effects or adherence. The findings do not address people with diabetes or those already taking statins.