New and Emerging Risk Factors for Coronary Heart Disease

Coronary heart disease (CHD) is one of the leading causes of death in the United States. Traditional risk factors such as family history, hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, diabetes mellitus and smoking cannot account for the entire risk for incident coronary events. Several other potential risk factors have been identified in an effort to improve risk assessment for CHD. This article reviews the current evidence on new and emerging risk factors for CHD and their current utility in screening, specifically focusing on coronary artery calcium score, C-reactive protein, lipoprotein (a), carotid intima-media thickness, homocysteine, lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A2, as well as high-density lipoprotein functionality.