Relationship between Calcium Score and Conventional Risk Factors in the Diagnosis of Atherosclerosis

Abstract

The CAC score is a well-established marker of coronary atherosclerosis.

A Pilot Study on the Association between Cardiovascular Risk Factors and Coronary Artery Calcification in a Group of Patients Investigated via Cardiac Computed Tomography in a European Country with High Cardiovascular Risk

“…In our study, according to the Agatston calcium score, coronary artery calcification was present in 111 (50%) of the patients, similar to other studies in the scientific literature, where the CCTA revealed that approximately 40-55.4% of the studied patients had a positive CAC score [12,13], but there have been studies reporting a higher prevalence of CAC score of up to 70% [15].…”

“…The CAC score is a marker directly related to known atherosclerosis risk factors that correlate well with atherosclerotic plaque burden and can be accurately assessed via computed tomography using the Agatston calcium score compared to other cardiac risk factors-based paradigms [1,5,13,15].…”

“…Prevention and early detection of CAD are of critical importance; CAC is a subclinical marker and a powerful tool in the assessment of CAD, recommended primarily for risk stratification in asymptomatic patients [1,2,12] but also for risk assessment in symptomatic patients [13]. Current CAC guidelines recommend the use of non-contrast CT for the evaluation of CAC in asymptomatic patients, as it allows direct visualization of coronary atherosclerosis and improves the clinical risk assessment [1,2,14].…”

“…CAD is a multifactorial disease; therefore, it is more clinically effective to evaluate it simultaneously, considering several risk factors associated with CAD [1]. To date, several studies have established the association of CAC with conventional cardiovascular disease risk factors and have also evaluated risk prediction models, biological markers, and imaging means of CVD screening [1,13,15,20,21]. Patients with more risk factors, for example, three factors compared to zero, one, or two, also had higher CAC scores; moreover, CAC has been reported to be an independent predictor of CAD risk [1,13,15,22].…”

Coronary Artery Stenosis Severity in Patients With Different Coronary Artery Calcium Scores on Coronary Computed Tomography Angiography

“…Church et al conducted a study on conventional risk factors and their association with CAC score and reported hypertension in 9% of patients having a CAC score <100 and in 16% of patients having a CAC score ≥100, smoking history in 5% of patients having a CAC score <100 and in 5% patients having a CAC score ≥100, and diabetes mellitus in 5% patients having a CAC score <100 and in 9% patients having a CAC score ≥100. [11] Our study is in contradiction with the study conducted in Iran by Yazdi et al We were unable to establish a strong association between conventional risk factors and CAC score, but Yazdi et al revealed that a non-zero CAC score is strongly associated with the conventional risk factors of ischemic heart disease [12].…”