Age and gender are the strongest clinical correlates of prevalent coronary calcification (R1).
OBJECTIVE
To determine which of the standard cardiovascular risk factors have the strongest associations with prevalent coronary artery calcification (CAC).


METHODS
A cross-sectional study of 6086 consecutive subjects who underwent electron beam computed tomography for CAC at a private, university-affiliated disease prevention center in San Diego, CA.


RESULTS
The correlation between age and coronary calcium score in men (r=0.463) was twice that of the next highest correlation (0.218) for percent body fat. A similar relationship was found for women (0.413 vs. 0.238). Calcium scores increased incrementally by age category in both men and women. This pattern of increase was not present for LDL cholesterol. Men and women over the age of 74 had highly elevated risks for the presence of any calcified coronary atherosclerosis compared to those under the age of 45 (OR [95% CI]: 11.08 [6.186-19.859] and 11.81 [6.718-20.746], respectively). Addition of the other traditional cardiovascular risk factors did not significantly increase the discriminatory power beyond that provided by age on ROC analysis.


CONCLUSIONS
Age and gender are significant independent clinical correlates of coronary calcium beyond that provided by the other risk factors. These results support the hypothesis that age is the predominant risk factor for coronary calcification.
Allison
Matthew A
MA
University of California at San Diego, 8950 Villa La Jolla Drive, Suite C203, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA. mallison@ucsd.edu
Wright
C Michael
CM
D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D002118:Calcium / Q000032:analysis*; D008076:Cholesterol, HDL / Q000097:blood; D008078:Cholesterol, LDL / Q000097:blood; D017023:Coronary Angiography; D003324:Coronary Artery Disease / Q000453:epidemiology; D003331:Coronary Vessels / Q000737:chemistry*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012372:ROC Curve; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed
D008076:Cholesterol, HDL; D008078:Cholesterol, LDL; D002118:Calcium