New Indices of Endothelial Function Measured by Digital Thermal Monitoring of Vascular Reactivity: Data from 6084 Patients Registry

Table 3

Comparison between CVD risk assessment methods.

Method	Type (structural, functional, and risk factors)	Independent of age	Predictive value	Response to therapy	Ease of use and applicability in primary care setting	Intra- and interobserver reproducibility	Self-monitoring by patients at home
Coronary artery calcium	Structural	−	+++	−	+	+++	−
Carotid IMT and plaque	Structural	−	++	+	++	+	−
Ankle brachial index	Structural	−	++	−	+++	++	−
Arterial stiffness (e.g., PWV, AI, and )	Structural/; functional	−	++	+	++	++	−
Risk factor-based risk calculators (e.g., FRS, SCORE, and QRISK2)	Risk factors	−	++	n/a	+++	++	++
FMD	Functional	+	++	++	−	−	−
PAT (RHI)	Functional	+	++	++	+++	++	++
PPG (RI)	Functional	+	++	++	+++	++	++
DTM (VRI)	Functional	+	++	++	+++	++	+++

Carotid IMT: carotid intimal-media thickness; PWV: pulse wave velocity; AI: augmentation index; : indices of large and small artery compliance (elasticity); FRS: Framingham Risk Score; SCORE: Systematic Coronary Risk Evaluation risk score system published by the European Society of Cardiology; QRISK2: risk calculator developed by UK National Health Service; FMD: flow-mediated dilatation; PAT: peripheral arterial tonometry; RHI: reactive hyperemia index; PPG: photoplethysmography for digital pulse waveform analysis; RI: reflection index; DTM: digital thermal monitoring; VRI: vascular reactivity index.