Correlation Between Cystatin C and Coronary Artery Disease

Coronary artery disease (CAD) is one of the most common complicated cardiovascular diseases causing morbidity and mortality. Early detection of CAD can help us choose the best therapeutic procedures and gain optimal results. This study aimed to evaluate cystatin C serum levels in patients with CAD.

This cross-sectional study was performed on 95 cases (60 in the CAD group and 35 in the control group). Cystatin C was measured via the enzymatic method and the sensitivity and specificity of cystatin C for diagnosing CAD were measured by ROC curve.

The mean serum level of cystatin C was 2.21 ± 0.97 mg/L; it was higher among the patients with CAD (3.57 ± 0.58 mg/L). The area under the ROC curve was calculated to be 0.702, with sensitivity of 88.5% and specificity of 82.4% based on 0.5 as the best cutoff point for serum cystatin C (P = 0.001, 95% CI: 0.59 to 0.81).

Our results showed that cystatin C serum levels with a cutoff point of 0.5 had high and acceptable sensitivity and specificity in diagnosing CAD and could, thus, play an important role in the early diagnosis of CAD and prevention of adverse cardiovascular events. (Iranian Heart Journal 2019; 20(4): 56-63)