Developing “Vital Capacity” in Cardiovascular Risk Assessment

Abstract

Global interest in personalized assessment of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk has led to continued innovation. From Framingham risk scores to -omic signatures and artificial intelligence classifiers from retinal images, the field has seen many new ideas. Lying forgotten in the dusty attics of medical history is Hutchinson’s magic machine, the spirometer, which can noninvasively predict the risk of premature CVD mortality and future heart failure, possibly better than many tests that are more widely promoted.1 Thus, spirometry as a neglected prognostic tool for CVD is “on my mind.”