A clinically rigorous three-layer framework — foundation tests for everyone, intermediate risk refiners for uncertain cases, and advanced imaging for high-risk patients — with honest guidance on what overscreening looks like and tests to be skeptical of.
Most cardiovascular events are not surprises — they occur in people whose risk factors were present and detectable years earlier. The question is whether those risk factors were found, measured, and acted upon. This guide gives patients the framework to know what should be on their preventive care checklist at every decade of life.
It also covers what not to do — over-testing in low-risk patients causes more harm than it prevents, and this guide is honest about where the evidence ends and the hype begins.
Blood pressure, lipid panel, glucose/HbA1c, BMI/waist, resting ECG, 10-year ASCVD risk score — frequency and rationale for each.
Who should get a coronary calcium score, how to interpret results (0 vs. 100 vs. 400+), and how it changes statin decisions.
The genetically elevated atherogenic lipoprotein not captured in standard lipid panels — who should be tested and what it means.
How high-sensitivity CRP guides statin initiation in intermediate-risk patients with normal LDL (JUPITER trial data).
What to prioritize in your 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, and 60s+ — structured and practical.
Tests that are overhyped, under-evidenced, or produce more false positives than clinical value in average-risk patients.
“The goal of screening is to find the right level of risk for each patient — not to find disease. Over-testing in low-risk patients produces anxiety, unnecessary procedures, and incidental findings that cause more harm than good. The art is knowing which test, in which patient, will actually change what we do next.”
The complete evidence-based screening framework, organized by risk level and age.
Get Cardiac Screening Guide — $37