Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2026 Apr 2:502755. doi: 10.1016/j.gastrohep.2026.502755. Online ahead of print.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: Cardiovascular (CV) risk assessment in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) remains insufficiently explored. This study aimed to assess the role of vascular Doppler ultrasound in refining CV risk stratification in patients with IBD.
PATIENTS AND METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional study including patients with Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC) under active follow-up in a tertiary referral center. Consecutive patients referred for cardiology assessment according to predefined clinical criteria between May 2024 and December 2025 underwent carotid and femoral Doppler ultrasound to estimate the prevalence of atherosclerosis. Ultrasound operators were blinded to the CV risk score results and clinical risk stratification at time to image acquisition and interpretation. In the primary prevention cohort, the ability of the PREVENT 10-year risk score for detecting subclinical atherosclerosis was assessed using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis. The optimal cutoff point was determined using the Youden index.
RESULTS: A total of 106 patients were included, of whom 100 without established atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) constituted the main analytical population. The median age was 54.4 years, and 59% were men. Before Doppler assessment, 55% of patients were classified as low risk, 10% as borderline risk, 28% as intermediate risk, and 7% as high risk. Subclinical atherosclerosis was detected in 46%, prompting risk reclassification. Overall upward reclassification occurred in 41% and downward reclassification in 11%, yielding a net reclassification of 30%. The PREVENT 10-year risk score showed good discriminatory performance for the detection of subclinical atherosclerosis (AUC = 0.85; 95% CI, 0.77-0.93), with an optimal cutoff value of 2.8%.
CONCLUSIONS: Vascular Doppler imaging revealed a high prevalence of subclinical atherosclerosis and was associated with substantial CV risk reclassification beyond traditional scores.
PMID:41935574 | DOI:10.1016/j.gastrohep.2026.502755