How is atherosclerosis diagnosed?

Preclinical atherosclerosis isn’t usually diagnosed directly through imaging or the other measurements mentioned above. However, once it manifests clinically, it may be caught during imaging or through the criteria for the clinical diseases it leads to (e.g., peripheral artery disease). Atherosclerosis may also be presumed on the basis of risk factors such as biomarkers like high blood pressure or LDL-C, demographics like age, or behaviors like smoking.