Association of abdominal aortic calcium with coronary artery calcium and obstructive coronary artery disease

Abstract

This study sought to determine the association of abdominal aortic calcium [AAC] with coronary artery calcium [CAC] and obstructive coronary artery disease [CAD]. This study included 110 patients [mean age 58.09 years, 51.8% males] who underwent a non-contrast abdominal computed tomography [CT] scan and 64-slice CCTA. A total AAC score using Agatston method was calculated in the abdominal aorta from the takeoff of the celiac artery to the aortic bifurcation. The results were analyzed using the IBM SPSS analytic software. A total of 58/110 [52.73%] patients had AAC. Patients with AAC were older with no differences in other baseline characteristics. Only 17.3% the patients with a zero, and 89.6% of those with a positive AAC score had obstructive CAD. Thus, an AAC score of zero had an 82.7% negative predictive value [NPV] and a positive AAC score had 89.6% positive predictive value [PPV] for the detection of obstructive CAD, in addition to 84.6% NPV and 82.7% PPV for detection of any coronary calcium plaque. Using multivariate linear regression, AAC score was an independent predictor of CAC score after adjusting for age [P < 0.001]. In our analysis, AAC score correlates with CAC score and has a high NPV to rule out CAD. Abdominal aortic calcium [AAC] score strongly correlates with coronary artery calcium [CAC] score and has a high NPV for the absence of obstructive CAD.