Factors involved with calcium metabolism, such as serum calcium and phosphate and calcium intake, have been associated with vascular disease in different populations. We investigated whether this association is mediated via increased vascular calcification by assessing relationships between these factors and abdominal aortic calcification (AAC) and coronary artery calcification (CAC). A total of 1471 healthy postmenopausal women participated in a 5-year randomized, placebo-controlled trial of calcium 1 g/day, and 323 healthy middle-aged and older men participated in a 2-year randomized, placebo-controlled trial of calcium 600 or 1200 mg/day. AAC was assessed on vertebral morphometric images at baseline and follow-up. Based on computed tomography, 163 men had CAC assessed, on average, 1.5 years after study completion. In elderly women, AAC was positively related to serum calcium (p < .001), phosphate (p ¼ .04), and the calcium-phosphate product (p ¼ .003), but changes in AAC over time and incidence of cardiovascular events were not related to these variables. In middle-aged men, AAC and CAC were not consistently related to these variables. Neither dietary calcium intake nor calcium supplementation was associated with changes in the prevalence of AAC over time, and calcium supplementation also was not related to CAC scores in men. After adjusting for age, AAC was not associated with low bone mineral density (BMD) at baseline, changes in BMD over time, or fracture incidence. CAC also was not related to baseline BMD. In summary, serum calcium and phosphate are associated with AAC in older women, but dietary calcium intake and calcium supplementation were not associated with changes in AAC over 2 to 5 years. ß

Abdominal aortic calcification (AAC) measured on spine X-rays is an established risk factor for cardiovascular disease. We investigated whether AAC assessed using vertebral morphometry and a recently developed scoring system (AAC-8) is reliable and associated with cardiovascular risk factors or events. A total of 1471 healthy postmenopausal women and 323 healthy middle-aged and older men participated in 5 and 2 year trials of calcium supplements, respectively. AAC-8 was assessed on vertebral morphometry images at baseline and follow-up. In addition, 163 men also had coronary artery calcification measured using computed tomography. Cardiovascular events during the trials were independently adjudicated. We found strong inter-and intrameasurer agreement for AAC-8 (k > 0.87). The prevalence of AAC increased with age ( p < .01) in women and in men. AAC was associated with many established cardiovascular risk factors, with serum calcium in women ( p ¼ .002) and with higher coronary calcium scores in men ( p ¼ .03). Estimated 5 year cardiovascular risk increased with increasing AAC-8 score ( p < .001) in women and in men. The presence of AAC independently predicted myocardial infarction (MI) in women [hazards ratio (HR) ¼ 2.30, p ¼ .007] and men (HR ¼ 5.32, p ¼ .04), even after adjustment for estimated cardiovascular risk in women. In women, AAC independently predicted cardiovascular events (MI, stroke, or sudden death) (HR ¼ 1.74, p ¼ .007), and changes in AAC-8 score over time were associated with MI and cardiovascular events, even after adjustment for estimated cardiovascular risk. In summary, scoring AAC on vertebral morphometric scans is a reproducible method of assessing cardiovascular risk that independently predicts incident MI and cardiovascular events, even after taking into account traditional cardiovascular risk factors. ß

BMD is stable in HIV cohorts established on HAART, whereas cohorts initiating HAART have short-term accelerated BMD loss followed by a longer period of BMD stability/increases. Routine monitoring of BMD in many HAART-treated patients may not be necessary.

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