Coronary artery calcification in older adults to age 99 - Prevalence and risk factors

Background-Coronary artery calcification has been proposed as a noninvasive method to assess cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. However, the prevalenc e and risk factors for coronary artery calcification in populations > 65 ye ars have not been well studied. Methods and Results-Electron beam tomography was performed to assess corona ry artery calcium (CAC) in 614 older adults aged, on average, 80 years (ran ge, 67 to 99 years); 367 (60%) were women, and 143 (23%) were black. Calciu m scores ranged from 0 to 5459. Median scores were 622 for men and 205 for women. Scores increased by age and were lower in blacks than in whites. Nin e percent of subjects (n=57) had no CAC, and 31% (n=190) had a score lower than 100. A history of CVD was associated with calcium score. Age, male sex , white race, CVD, triglyceride level, pack-years of smoking, and asthma, e mphysema, or bronchitis (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) were indepe ndently associated with CAC score in the fourth quartile. Conclusions-A wide range of CAC scores was observed, suggesting, adaptation with aging. CAC may have potential to predict CVD in older adults, but thi s remains to be determined.