[The prevalence and characteristics of aortic arch calcification among middle and elderly population in Guangzhou].
OBJECTIVE
To examine the prevalence and characteristics of aortic arch calcification (AAC) in residents aged 50 or over in Guangzhou, China.


METHODS
Face-to-face interview, physical examination and laboratory tests were conducted on 10 413 Chinese adults aged 50 or over. Posterior-anterior plain chest X-ray radiographs were obtained from 10 305 subjects using a Toshiba KSO-15R machine. The radiographs were reviewed together by two radiologists while 300 radiographs were independently gone through by two radiologists to assess the agreement with Kappa coefficient method.


RESULTS
The rate of agreement on Diagnosis for the two radiologists was 85.0% and Kappa coefficient was 0.68, with P < 0.001 which showed a moderate agreement between the two radiologists. Among the 10 305 subjects, there were 3064 men and 7349 women, with their mean age (+/- standard deviation) as 64.0 +/- 6.0 and 66.2 +/- 5.8, respectively. Most of them had educational level of middle school or below, and most of their occupations were factory or agricultural workers. The prevalence of AAC was 40.6%. Women showed significantly higher prevalence rate than men (41.4% versus 38.6%, P < 0.001) and the prevalence of AAC increased significantly with age. Subjects with primary educational level or below had the highest prevalence of AAC. There was no significant association found between occupation and AAC prevalence. 98.7% of the subjects with AAC occurred in aortic arch. Most AAC had a length of 10 mm or longer and a width from 1-4 mm, which indicated the severity of AAC among the subjects.


CONCLUSIONS
The prevalence of AAC among Guangzhou Biobank Cohort was about 40.6%, higher than those reported in foreign studies, while most of the lesions were quite serious.
Jiang
Chao-qiang
CQ
Guangzhou No. 12 Hospital, Guangzhou 510620, China.
Lam
Taihing
T
Cheng
Karkeung
K
Yin
Peng
P
Neil
Thomas G
TG
Lao
Xiang-qian
XQ
Zhang
Wei-sen
WS
Liu
Bin
B
Adab
Paymone
P
Li
Zhi-bin
ZB
D000368:Aged; D001013:Aorta, Thoracic / Q000473:pathology*; D002114:Calcinosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D009202:Cardiomyopathies / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence