‘Indians suffer from Coronary Artery Disease because of smaller Body Surface Area, not smaller diameter of arteries’

A study conducted Sir Ganga Ram Hospital has said that Indians have an increased risk of Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) because of their smaller body surface area and not just a smaller diameter of arteries.
The study, conducted researchers from the Department of Cardiology and Radiology of the hospital, is contrary to the general perception that Indians suffer more from CAD due to the smaller diameter of arteries. It was based on observational impact on 250 patients. The study has been published in the Journal of Indian College of Cardiology and published on September 14, 2022.
Dr JPS Sawhney, author and chairman, Department of Cardiology, said 51 per cent respondents were hypertensive, 18 per cent were diabetic, four per cent were smokers, 28 per cent were dyslipidemic and 26 per cent had a family hory of heart disease.
Dr Ashwani Mehta, author and senior consultant, Department of Cardiology, said that the study found that the mean vessel diameter for males was significantly larger than those for females but when indexed to the Body Surface Area, these values were not significant. “There has been an assumption that Asians, and particularly Indians, have increased risk of atherosclerosis (fatty deposits in arteries) because of their small coronary artery diameter. However, from our observational study, it is proved that the coronary artery dimensions in the Indian population are not small, the risk is due to their small Body Surface Area. Thus, the rationale for small dimensions of arteries being a risk factor for CAD is not valid in the Indian population,” he added.
One of the participants of the study, Dr Bhuvnesh Kandpal, author and senior consultant, Department of Cardiology, said that the study might also provide some insight into the use of diameters indexed to BSA as a cutoff for deciding the need for re-vascularisation (a procedure that can restore blood flow in blocked arteries or veins). “This study was done to estimate the size of normal coronary arteries in the Indian population, index it to BSA, and see if there is any significant difference when compared to the Caucasian population,” he added.
Dimensions of coronary arteries in Indians as found in the study*
*Artery Mean Diameter*1. LM proximal 4.22±0.782. LM dal 4.24±0.693. POC 4.8±0.554. LAD 3.46±0.585. LCX 2.97±0.626. RCA 3.32±0.73
The above measurements are in millimeters. LAD: Left anterior descending, LCX: Left circumflex, RCA: Right coronary artery, LM: Left main, POC: Polygon of confluence