Self- vs provider-referral differences for coronary artery calcium testing

The objectives of this study were to identify independent predictors for moderate/accentuated coronary artery calcium (CAC) score and compare patients who self-referred for CAC Computed Tomography (CT) testing to those who were provider-referred. Patients underwent CAC between January to July 2019. The analysis was divided into self-referred patients influenced by a CAC community campaign who identified themselves as having cardiovascular risk factors compared to provider-referred intermediate-risk patients who were asymptomatic. SAS version 9.4 (SAS Institute, Inc., Cary, NC) was used for all analyses. Seven southwest Ohio hospitals from a single network. 2124 adult patients who received CAC CT (163 self and 1961 provider-referred). CAC CT. Demographics, risk factors, lab values, prescriptions, and referral status were used to compare CAC score differences between self- and provider-referred patients. For 2124 patients, three predictors for moderate/accentuated CAC score remained significant after multiple logistic regression: CKD (OR 0.24, CI 0.008–0.68, p