Introduction:
It has been shown that women present lower coronary artery (CAC) and aortic valve calcification (AVC) loads while heavier mitral annular calcification (MAC) than men. However, the sex-specific predictors to these cardiac calcifications remain poorly characterized.
Methods:
We conducted a cross-sectional study in patients with at least mild AS (indexed aortic valve area: AVAi < 1.5 cm
2
/m
2
, Peak aortic jet velocity: Vpeak > 2.0 m/s, or Mean gradient: MG >15 mmHg). Doppler-echocardiography and non-contrast multidetector compute tomography were performed within 3 months. Ascending aorta calcification (AAC), AVC, CAC and MAC scores were measured using the Agatston method. Descriptive statistical analyses (t-test, Wilcoxon, univariate and multivariate analysis) were performed.
Results:
We studied 406 patients (71±11 years, 33% women) with AVAi= 0.59±0.21 cm
2
/cm
2
, Vpeak= 3.1±9.8 m/s, MG= 24.7±17.8 mmHg (equivalent between men and women, all p>0.34). Women present less AVC (480[222-1191] vs 1005[485-2364]AU; p<0.0001), and CAC (366[50-914] vs 626[167-1354]AU; p=0.006), but more MAC (60[1-887] vs 48[0-363]AU; p=0.05) and AAC (227[43-863] vs 142[7-493]AU; p=0.03) than men. Even after comprehensive adjustment, sex remained an independent predictor of each cardiac calcification (all p<0.01). In multivariate analysis, correlates with higher AVC or higher MAC were sex dependent (cf. table). Collinearity was avoided with all variance inflating factor <2.5.
Conclusion:
In AS patients, sex is a powerful and independent predictor of cardiac calcifications. Moreover, predictors of valvular calcification appear to be sex specific.