Author Archives: Peter Megdal PhD

The Hook: Deconditioning vs. Aging Many of us view the heart’s decline as an inevitable slide into obsolescence, but the reality is more hopeful. The heart is not a ticking time bomb of decay; it is an adaptable muscle waiting for the right stimulus. The landmark Dallas Bed Rest and Training Study proved that just 20 days of total inactivity aged the hearts of 20-year-olds by more than 30 chronological years.

Atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) remains the leading global cause of mortality despite major advances in acute care. Modern preventive cardiology increasingly recognizes apolipoprotein B (ApoB)–containing lipoproteins as the necessary and causal drivers of atherosclerosis.

The landscape of preventive cardiology has undergone a profound transformation with the emergence of subclinical imaging, specifically the quantification of coronary artery calcium (CAC). For decades, cardiovascular risk assessment relied almost exclusively on probabilistic models derived from population-wide observational data.