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Journalist Driscoll draws on medical journal articles to explain artery health, related diseases, and preventative treatments in a guidebook aimed at general readers.

This brief informational overview provides information on how clogged arteries cause heart disease and stroke, and how to treat the condition; it also explains how to get screenings to determine potential problems before they become life-threatening. The author’s goal is to help people discover if they’re at risk before a serious event occurs and to take precautions. Artery health can decline without symptoms, Driscoll writes, and current risk prediction models are flawed. The author notes that heart disease, which is the leading cause of death worldwide, is caused by arteries clogged with plaque, which can rupture, causing dangerous blood clots. Problems can be detected early with a carotid artery ultrasound screening test, which Driscoll promotes with enthusiasm, although he insightfully notes that “there is no clear guidance on the age at which to begin screening for artery clogging. A case can be made to begin screening in your 40s, in your 50s, or at least by your 60s,” and goes on to discuss this in detail, citing data from such peer-reviewed publications as the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. (Online sources for articles are provided in endnotes.) For those at risk, he offers useful, data-driven suggestions on how to stabilize existing plaque through diet and medication. One chapter describes how statin drugs can help, although there’s no explanation of what statins are, or how they work. The author is not a medical doctor, and a disclaimer notes that the book is “not intended as medical advice”; it also lacks information on his methodology, other than the book’s foundation on “research published in 40 groundbreaking medical journal articles.” However, the author does frequently advise readers to consult their primary care physicians, and the final resource is a directory of preventative cardiologists in the United States. Additional short explanations (of plaque, cholesterol, and LDL, or “bad,” cholesterol) would have been beneficial, but most terms are clearly defined.

A straightforward and concise informational handbook on vascular health.