Novel Nomogram for Predicting Coronary Vulnerable Plaque Risk in Patients with Coronary Artery Disease

Objective: To develop and validate a nomogram for predicting coronary vulnerable plaques (VPs) in coronary artery disease (CAD) patients. Methods: One hundred seventy-seven CAD patients were enrolled in the training group. Another 60 patients were included for validation. Based on the identified independent risk factors, a nomogram model was developed and then validated. Results: Type 2 diabetes, hypertension, neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, MCP-1 and MMP-9 were found to be independent risk factors for coronary VPs. Both internal and external validation showed this nomogram had satisfactory discrimination via receiver operating characteristic curves, calibration via calibration plots and clinical application values via decision curve analysis. Conclusion: The authors established a nomogram model predicting coronary VP risk in CAD patients with promising clinical application value.