Management of High-Risk Atherosclerotic Patients by Statins May Be Supported by Logistic Model of Intima-Media Thickening
While the use of statins in treating patients with atherosclerosis is an undisputed success, the questions regarding an optimal starting time for treatment and its strength remain open. We proposed in our earlier paper published in Int. J. Mol. Sci. (2019, 20) that the growth of intima-media thickne...
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| Format: | Article |
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MDPI AG
2021-06-01
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| Series: | Journal of Clinical Medicine |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0383/10/13/2876 |
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| author | Dorota Formanowicz Jacek B. Krawczyk Bartłomiej Perek Dawid Lipski Andrzej Tykarski |
| author_facet | Dorota Formanowicz Jacek B. Krawczyk Bartłomiej Perek Dawid Lipski Andrzej Tykarski |
| author_sort | Dorota Formanowicz |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | While the use of statins in treating patients with atherosclerosis is an undisputed success, the questions regarding an optimal starting time for treatment and its strength remain open. We proposed in our earlier paper published in Int. J. Mol. Sci. (2019, 20) that the growth of intima-media thickness of the carotid artery follows an S-shape (i.e., logistic) curve. In our subsequent paper in PLoS ONE (2020, 15), we incorporated this feature into a logistic control-theoretic model of atherosclerosis progression and showed that some combinations of patient age and intima-media thickness are better suited than others to start treatment. In this study, we perform a new and comprehensive calibration of our logistic model using a recent clinical database. This allows us to propose a procedure for inferring an optimal age to start statin treatment for a particular group of patients. We argue that a decrease in the slope of the IMT logistic growth curve, induced by statin treatment, is most efficient where the curve is at its steepest, whereby the efficiency means lowering the future IMT levels. Using the procedure on an aggregate group of severely sick men, 38 years of age is observed to correlate with the steepest point of the logistic curve, and, thus, it is the preferred time to start statin treatment. We believe that detecting the logistic curve’s steepest fragment and commencing statin administration on that fragment are courses of action that agree with clinician intuition and may support decision-making processes. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T09:58:58Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-ae6ad2d516e94346a5d6b0f95ebe69f0 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2077-0383 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T09:58:58Z |
| publishDate | 2021-06-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Clinical Medicine |
| spelling | doaj.art-ae6ad2d516e94346a5d6b0f95ebe69f02023-11-22T02:06:20ZengMDPI AGJournal of Clinical Medicine2077-03832021-06-011013287610.3390/jcm10132876Management of High-Risk Atherosclerotic Patients by Statins May Be Supported by Logistic Model of Intima-Media ThickeningDorota Formanowicz0Jacek B. Krawczyk1Bartłomiej Perek2Dawid Lipski3Andrzej Tykarski4Department of Medical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, 60-806 Poznan, PolandSchool of Mathematics & Statistics, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, AustraliaDepartment of Cardiac Surgery and Transplantology, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, 61-001 Poznan, PolandDepartment of Hypertension, Angiology and Internal Disease, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, 61-001 Poznan, PolandDepartment of Hypertension, Angiology and Internal Disease, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, 61-001 Poznan, PolandWhile the use of statins in treating patients with atherosclerosis is an undisputed success, the questions regarding an optimal starting time for treatment and its strength remain open. We proposed in our earlier paper published in Int. J. Mol. Sci. (2019, 20) that the growth of intima-media thickness of the carotid artery follows an S-shape (i.e., logistic) curve. In our subsequent paper in PLoS ONE (2020, 15), we incorporated this feature into a logistic control-theoretic model of atherosclerosis progression and showed that some combinations of patient age and intima-media thickness are better suited than others to start treatment. In this study, we perform a new and comprehensive calibration of our logistic model using a recent clinical database. This allows us to propose a procedure for inferring an optimal age to start statin treatment for a particular group of patients. We argue that a decrease in the slope of the IMT logistic growth curve, induced by statin treatment, is most efficient where the curve is at its steepest, whereby the efficiency means lowering the future IMT levels. Using the procedure on an aggregate group of severely sick men, 38 years of age is observed to correlate with the steepest point of the logistic curve, and, thus, it is the preferred time to start statin treatment. We believe that detecting the logistic curve’s steepest fragment and commencing statin administration on that fragment are courses of action that agree with clinician intuition and may support decision-making processes.https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0383/10/13/2876atherosclerosisstatinscontrol-theoretic modellogistic growth |
| spellingShingle | Dorota Formanowicz Jacek B. Krawczyk Bartłomiej Perek Dawid Lipski Andrzej Tykarski Management of High-Risk Atherosclerotic Patients by Statins May Be Supported by Logistic Model of Intima-Media Thickening Journal of Clinical Medicine atherosclerosis statins control-theoretic model logistic growth |
| title | Management of High-Risk Atherosclerotic Patients by Statins May Be Supported by Logistic Model of Intima-Media Thickening |
| title_full | Management of High-Risk Atherosclerotic Patients by Statins May Be Supported by Logistic Model of Intima-Media Thickening |
| title_fullStr | Management of High-Risk Atherosclerotic Patients by Statins May Be Supported by Logistic Model of Intima-Media Thickening |
| title_full_unstemmed | Management of High-Risk Atherosclerotic Patients by Statins May Be Supported by Logistic Model of Intima-Media Thickening |
| title_short | Management of High-Risk Atherosclerotic Patients by Statins May Be Supported by Logistic Model of Intima-Media Thickening |
| title_sort | management of high risk atherosclerotic patients by statins may be supported by logistic model of intima media thickening |
| topic | atherosclerosis statins control-theoretic model logistic growth |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0383/10/13/2876 |
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