Are heart scans worth getting?

Medical Q&A [Moderated]
1

I have a family history of heart disease on my dad’s side of the family. He died nine years ago of a heart attack at age 68. His dad died in the early 80s of a heart attack after having open heart surgery a year or two prior. I think he was 69 or 70 years old. Looking back at the family history on my dad’s side, none of the men live to be over 70 years old. I have no idea what kind of heart disease any had, including my dad. We didn’t get an autopsy done. I figured a heart attack was a pretty simple explanation, but now I understand there can be multiple reasons for a heart attack, and not just a “bum ticker”.

I’m 31 years old, 196lbs. I’ve slowly decreased my waist size from about 39 inches to 34 inches over the last year or so and dropped about 20lbs in the process. I had a primary doctor for awhile, but never really went. I had some chest pains a few years ago, went to my primary doc and he hooked me up to a monitor for 24 hours. Everything came back fine and I haven’t given it much thought since. When I did go, my BP always came back in the normal range but close to borderline hypertension. I’m pretty sure my cholesterol was fine last time I got checked.

This (https://www.baptist-health.com/services/heart-health/bheart-healthy-screening/) was suggested to me by a coupe of older fellas after mentioning my dad and family history. Is it a waste of time to get stuff like this done if I haven’t shown any signs of heart related issues? I know y’all are against scans just for the hell of it, but I figured maybe it might be different for heart stuff, especially with a family history. My wife is a nurse and has also been on me about possibly getting checked out just as a precaution.

2

I think the top priorities in your situation should be to:

  1. get the lipid panel done to ensure your non-HDL-C is in the target range
  2. get your blood pressure checked
  3. keep your waist circumference in the current range
  4. keep training

Here is some basic information about the coronary artery calcium score: https://www.lipid.org/sites/default/files/coronary_artery_calcium_testing.pdf

It is most useful for individuals considered to be at “intermediate risk” (10-20%) by the Framingham or modified Framingham/ATP risk scores. This may involve a discussion with your doctor about whether the scan is appropriate at this time for you (I suspect you’re likely to still be in the low risk category, especially due to your age). But I can’t give a strong individualized recommendation for or against without more detailed information/consultation.