A better way to predict a patient's risk of coronary artery disease Scripps Research scientists developed a model that more accurately identifies patients at risk of coronary artery disease and can inform tailored treatment.
April 16, 2025
LA JOLLA, CA Coronary artery disease (CAD) is the leading cause of death in the United States. Although effective preventative treatments exist, these measures are often underutilized, in part because people don't know they're at risk of CAD until it's too late.
Now, scientists at the Scripps Research Translational Institute have developed a machine learning model that more accurately estimates a patient's risk of CAD compared to the standard clinical practice, which is based primarily on age. The findings, published in Nature Medicine on April 16, 2025, leveraged data that spanned 10 years. Their new model is personalized and integrates factors including genetics, lifestyle and medical history, enabling clinicians to provide patients with advice and preventative treatment tailored to their individual needs.
I think more precise and personalized risk prediction could motivate patients to engage in early prevention, says senior author Ali Torkamani, PhD, professor and director of Genomics and Genome Informatics at the Scripps Research Translational Institute. Our model first predicts the risk that a person will develop CAD, and then it provides information to allow personalized intervention.
CAD is caused by a buildup of plaque in the heart's arteries, which then blocks blood supply. Many people don't realize they have CAD until they experience a heart attack, but the disease is cumulative the earlier treatment begins, the more effective it will be.
We tend to observe bad outcomes for CAD in patients who are in their mid-50s and older, but the disease actually begins to develop much earlier, sometimes even while people are teenagers. Theres a lot of room for us to take action, says first author Shang-Fu Shaun' Chen, a former doctoral student in Torkamani's group.
To enable more accurate CAD risk prediction, Torkamani's team set out to create a model that incorporates factors beyond age, including genetic predisposition, lifestyle and medical history. They used data from the UK Biobank to train a machine learning model to recognize factors associated with CAD. Then, they tested the model on longitudinal data from a different cohort of individuals within the Biobank to see whether it could predict their risk of developing CAD over the course of 10 years based on their baseline data.
The model started with around 2,000 predictive features that could factor into CAD risk, but the team eventually whittled this list down to 53 risk factors. These included physical measurements, blood biomarkers, family medical history, mental illness, sleep duration and the presence of specific gene variants.
The new model outperformed the standard clinical model and enabled the prediction of two times as many CAD events. After 10 years of follow-up, 62.9% of individuals that the model categorized as being at highest risk had developed CAD, compared to only 0.3% of individuals in the lowest risk group.
The new model is personalized and integrates factors including genetics, lifestyle and medical history, enabling clinicians to provide patients with advice and preventative treatment tailored to their individual needs. Credit: Scripps Research Compared to traditional clinical tools, the new model improved risk classification for approximately one in four individuals helping to better identify those truly at risk while avoiding unnecessary concern for those who are not, said Chen.
The model's accuracy was partially due to its better ability to predict CAD in groups of people who are usually categorized as low risk, such as younger individuals and women.
Our model can pick up individuals who would be considered at low risk of CAD due to their age, but who are actually high risk due to their underlying genetics, says Torkamani.
Though the model's accuracy depended on the inclusion of multiple factors, the team showed that genetic predisposition was by far the strongest predictor of CAD risk. This included not only genetic predisposition for CAD itself, but also for related conditions such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes.
The higher your genetic risk for one of those traits high cholesterol levels or high blood pressure levels or high diabetes risk the greater benefit you get from intervening on that particular aspect through medication or lifestyle changes, says Torkamani.
When the team validated the model using the National Institutes of Health All of Us dataset which includes more diverse populations than the UK Biobank they showed it was able to predict CAD risk equally well for people with European, African and Hispanic ancestries.
Now, the researchers are planning a long-term clinical trial to test whether informing patients of their risk of CAD can help prevent the disease.
We think the most important thing is for patients to be aware of their individual risks so that they can receive the appropriate treatments and make lifestyle changes, says Chen.
In addition to Torkamani and Chen, authors of the study, Meta-Prediction of Coronary Artery Disease Risk, include Hossein J. Sadaei, Ahmed Khattab, Corneliu Henegar, Nathan E. Wineinger and Evan D. Muse of Scripps Research; Sang Eun Lee of University of Ulsan College of Medicine; Jun-Bean Park of Seoul National University Hospital; and Jei-Fu Chen of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.
This work was supported by funding from the National Institutes of Health (R01HG010881 and UM1TR004407) and the Scripps Research HPC team, including JC Ducom and Lisa Dong.
Heart Disease Torkamani, Ali
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
10/06/2026
DAZN-owned digital-media company launches three fan-first series leaning into cr...
10/06/2026
Clear-Com has announced the appointment of Jason Dino as Southwest Regional Sales Manager USA, covering Southern California and the Southwest region. Dino joins...
10/06/2026
An 11% decrease in number of global broadcast deals reflects the organization...
10/06/2026
The Women Without Boundaries Awards recognize women whose work is advancing the future of media, broadcast, AV, workplace technology, digital experience, and re...
10/06/2026
Today is match day minus two for FIFA and HBS. On Thursday, there will be two ma...
10/06/2026
SES is supporting broadcast distribution of the world's biggest football tou...
10/06/2026
NDI has announced that BirdDog has become the first hardware manufacturer to achieve full NDI 6.3 compatibility across its complete lineup of cameras, encoders,...
10/06/2026
Vince Caputo and Scott Carter, winners of the 2026 Sports Emmy for Outstanding Post Produced Audio have been announced as presenters for the 2026 SVG Advanced A...
10/06/2026
FOX One today unveiled a slate of new product features and enhancements designed to elevate the viewing experience for fans on the official streaming platform o...
10/06/2026
Primary production partners Dome Productions and Raycom Sports once again played...
10/06/2026
The Women in Sports Filmmaking Experienceship is an immersive professional devel...
10/06/2026
The league has expanded its HSAN architecture for the NBA Finals to manage more ...
10/06/2026
The inaugural MoonPay X Games League (XGL) Winter Draft will take place Wednesday, September 16, 2026 at Cosm Los Angeles from 7-9 p.m. PT. The event will strea...
10/06/2026
The University of Oklahoma (OU) Athletics Department and Learfield have announce...
10/06/2026
The Video Services Forum (VSF) has released TR-06-4 Part 8, a new specification for RIST Satellite-Hybrid: Out-of-Band Method. The specification creates a mecha...
10/06/2026
Riedel Communications provided the communications infrastructure for the 14th World Live Neurovascular Conference (WLNC) in Lisbon, supporting live medical proc...
10/06/2026
A still from The Doom Generation by Gregg Araki (Courtesy of Sundance Institute)
By Lucy Spicer
Have you checked out our Sundance Film Festival 101 list yet...
10/06/2026
Get Hands-On with Interfaces & Mic Preamp Brands
If youre after a new interface or preamp, then GearExpo UK is the place to be! Well have a whole host of au...
10/06/2026
November 13-14 2026, The Midway, San Francisco
Following their recent rebranding, MONO Music Conference (formerly Music Expo) have officially announced thei...
10/06/2026
Debut instrument free for limited time
deFORM is the debut release from newly founded developer ebbandflow, and it's being offered as a free download fo...
10/06/2026
Alone Australia Season 4: Meet the Cast
10 June, 2026
Media releases
WATCH THE TRAILER
Smash-hit survival series Alone Australia drops its highly anticipa...
10/06/2026
DEADLY THEN, DEADLY NOW, DEADLY ALWAYS: SBS & NITV IGNITE NAIDOC WEEK 2026 WITH ...
10/06/2026
Rohde & Schwarz and TRUMPF advance laser-based drone defense with THORIS LCS Rohde & Schwarz is showcasing THORIS at ILA 2026: A sovereign, end to end counter...
10/06/2026
MAHLE and Rohde & Schwarz develop application for sensor testing of modern drive...
10/06/2026
Production and Development Funding supports the creation of compelling, commercially viable, artistic and culturally relevant South African screen content. Deve...
10/06/2026
Media buyers and sellers can now compare YouTube reach from computer, mobile, an...
10/06/2026
Accedo, Humans not Robots, and the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) have announced the launch of Ecoflow X. Formerly an IBC Accelerator project, ...
10/06/2026
Frequency, the engine powering the world's leading streaming television channels, today announced that James Smith has joined the company as General Manager...
10/06/2026
At the 14th World Live Neurovascular Conference (WLNC) in Lisbon, Riedel Communications provided the communications infrastructure for live medical procedures s...
10/06/2026
Globecast, a leading provider of broadcast, media, and entertainment managed services, today announced the launch of its Content Exchange platform powered by Or...
10/06/2026
Klvr will showcase how venues, integrators and production teams are rethinking disposable battery usage at InfoComm 2026 (Las Vegas, June 17-19, booth #N6311). ...
10/06/2026
The Video Services Forum (VSF) has further enhanced the Reliable Internet Streaming Transport (RIST) protocol by incorporating a new feature, RIST Satellite-Hyb...
10/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
10/06/2026
Wednesday 10 June 2026
How to watch every ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2026 match live on Sky Sports
Where is the ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2026 availabl...
10/06/2026
Wednesday 10 June 2026
P RLA brings first-ever Beautifully Clean Oral Care'...
10/06/2026
Wednesday 10 June 2026
Sky reveals pulse-pounding first teaser trailer for upco...
10/06/2026
Wuppertal June 10, 2026
Riedel Artist at the Heart of the 14th World Live Neurovascular ConferenceAt the 14th World Live Neurovascular Conference (WLNC) in Li...
10/06/2026
Back to All News
Netflix Showcases New Mobile Experience, Collections and Games Vision in APAC
Product
10 June 2026
GlobalSouth KoreaJapan
Link copied to c...
10/06/2026
Back to All News
Ready to Join? The Netflix Fan Club Arrives at Cannes Lions
Business
10 June 2026
Global
Link copied to clipboard
Download all assets
N...
10/06/2026
Chemists snap together complex 3D molecules from highly reactive radicals-without losing their shape Scripps Research team develops stereoretentive radical-radi...
09/06/2026
Kiswe announces an expanded long-term partnership with ONE Championship (ONE), t...
09/06/2026
SiriusXM will broadcast FOX Sports' English-language commentary for all 104 FIFA World Cup 2026 matches from June 11 through July 19, available to subscribe...
09/06/2026
EVS has announced it is changing its corporate name from EVS Broadcast Equipment to EVS, reflecting the company's expanded portfolio beyond broadcast equipm...
09/06/2026
Fox Corporation and the NFL have announced a multi-year agreement to bring NFL c...
09/06/2026
FOX Sports and ReachTV, an airport media network, have announced an agreement to...
A better way to predict a patient's risk of coronary artery disease Scripps Research scientists developed a model that more accurately identifies patients at risk of coronary artery disease and can inform tailored treatment. 
