Introduction:
Coronary artery calcium (CAC) has been found to be associated with coronary artery plaque burden and is a major predictor of coronary heart disease (CHD) events. The data on its role in predicting carotid artery stenosis (CAS) is limited.
Methods:
Participants age ≥ 18 years with heart screen done from Nov 2008- Feb 2019 were selected and were assessed for documented diagnosis of carotid artery stenosis after their heart screen. Only the most recent heart screen per person and earliest documented CAS was considered. The chi-squared test and Welch’s 2-sample t-test was used to test for significant association between CAS and the nominal variables and mean calcium score respectively.
Results:
A total of 35,084 patient were screened for CAC score and 1439 (4.1%), were recorded to have a diagnosis of carotid artery stenosis. 53.5% being females and mean age of 63.69±9.31 years. The mean time between heart screen and documented diagnosis of CAS was 1529.4 ± 1211.0 days. The presence of CAS was significantly higher in patients ≥ 60 years (8.5%) as compared to those age <60 years (2%). There was a significant difference in mean CAC score between those with CAS as compared to non- carotid stenosis group (324.2, vs 107.27, p<.0001). In patient with elevated CAC ≥ 100, 9.98% had diagnosis of CAS, as compared to 2.82% in patients with CAC <100, however among patients with diagnosis of CAS 46.6% had elevated CAC ≥ 100.
Conclusions:
The presence of carotid artery stenosis (CAS) was significantly associated with elevated coronary artery calcium score (≥100) and was significantly higher in patients with age ≥ 60 years, which in correct clinical context is helpful in suspecting CAS.
Coronary Artery Calcium Score Improves the Prediction of Occult Coronary Artery Stenosis in Ischemic Stroke Patients