The aims of this study were to (1) determine the association between ethnicity and
thoracic aortic calcium (TAC) and abdominal aortic calcium (AAC) and (2) investigate
associations between cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors and TAC and AAC. Participants
were 1,957 men and women enrolled in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis who
had computed tomographic scans of the chest and abdomen. These scans were obtained
at the same clinic visit and calcium scores were computed using the Agatston method.
Regression analyses were conducted using relative risk regression. Mean age was 65
years and 50% were women. Forty percent were white, 26% Hispanic, 21% African-American,
and 13% Chinese. Whites had the highest prevalence of AAC (80%), which was significantly
higher than Hispanics (68%, p <0.001), African-Americans (63%, p <0.001), and Chinese
(74%, p = 0.029). Similarly, whites had the highest prevalence of TAC (42%), which
was significantly higher than in Hispanics (30%, p <0.01) and African-Americans (27%,
p <0.001) but was not significantly different from that in Chinese (38%). Compared
to whites and after adjustment for age, gender, body mass index, hypertension, diabetes,
dyslipidemia, smoking, and family history of CVD, Hispanics and African-Americans,
but not Chinese-Americans, had a significantly lower risk for the presence of any
AAC or any TAC. In these models, diabetes, smoking, and dyslipidemia had stronger
associations with AAC, whereas hypertension was stronger for TAC. In conclusion, compared
to whites, African-Americans and Hispanics, but not Chinese, have evidence of less
atherosclerosis in the thoracic and abdominal aortas, which does not appear to be
accounted for by traditional CVD risk factors.
To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
Purchase one-time access:
Academic & Personal: 24 hour online accessCorporate R&D Professionals: 24 hour online accessOne-time access price info
- For academic or personal research use, select 'Academic and Personal'
- For corporate R&D use, select 'Corporate R&D Professionals'
Subscribe:
Subscribe to American Journal of CardiologyAlready a print subscriber? Claim online access
Already an online subscriber? Sign in
Register: Create an account
Institutional Access: Sign in to ScienceDirect
References
- Patterns and risk factors for systemic calcified atherosclerosis.Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 2004; 24: 331-336
- Coronary and aortic calcification among women 8 years after menopause and their premenopausal risk factors: the healthy women study.Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 1999; 19: 2189-2198
- Relation of thoracic aortic and aortic valve calcium to coronary artery calcium and risk assessment.Am J Cardiol. 2003; 92: 951-955
- Abdominal aortic calcific deposits are an important predictor of vascular morbidity and mortality.Circulation. 2001; 103: 1529-1534
- Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis: objectives and design.Am J Epidemiol. 2002; 156: 871-881
- Estimation of the concentration of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol in plasma, without use of the preparative ultracentrifuge.Clin Chem. 1972; 18: 499-502
- Coronary artery calcification detected with ultrafast CT as an indication of coronary artery disease.Radiology. 1992; 185: 435-439
- Evaluation of sub-second gated helical CT for quantification of coronary artery calcium and comparison with electron beam CT.Am J Radiol. 2000; 174: 915-921
- Quantification of coronary artery calcium using ultrafast computed tomography.J Am Coll Cardiol. 1990; 15: 827-832
- Ethnic differences in coronary calcification: the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA).Circulation. 2005; 111: 1313-1320
- Natural history and risk factors of atherosclerosis in children and youth: the PDAY study.Pediatr Pathol Mol Med. 2002; 21: 213-237
- A comparison of risk factors for calcified atherosclerotic plaque in the coronary, carotid, and abdominal aortic arteries: the Diabetes Heart Study.Am J Epidemiol. 2007; 166: 340-347
- Atherosclerotic coronary plaques in African Americans are less likely to calcify than coronary plaques in Caucasian Americans.Circulation. 2002; 106: 481
- The development of calcium deposits in atherosclerotic lesions and their persistence after lipid regression.Am J Cardiol. 2001; 88: 16E-19E
- A definition of advanced types of atherosclerotic lesions and a histological classification of atherosclerosis.Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 1995; 15: 1512-1531
- Mineral exploration: search for the mechanism of vascular calcification and beyond: the 2003 Jeffrey M. Hoeg Award lecture.Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 2003; 23: 1739-1743
- Association between systemic calcified atherosclerosis and bone density.Calcif Tissue Int. 2007; 80: 301-306
- Association of coronary artery and aortic calcium with lumbar bone density: the MESA abdominal aortic calcium study.Am J Epidemiol. 2009; 169: 186-194
- Lipid oxidation products have opposite effects on calcifying vascular cell and bone cell differentiation.Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 1997; 17: 680-687
- The relation between oxidized LDL and other cardiovascular risk factors and subclinical CVD in different ethnic groups: the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA).Atherosclerosis. 2007; 194: 245-252
Article info
Publication history
Published online: July 13, 2009
Accepted:
May 2,
2009
Received in revised form:
May 2,
2009
Received:
March 20,
2009
Footnotes
This research was supported by a grant to Dr. Allison from the American Heart Association, Dallas, Texas; Grant R01 HL071739 from the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland; and Contracts N01-HC-95159 through N01-HC-95165 and N01-HC-95169 from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, Bethesda, Maryland.
Identification
Copyright
© 2009 Elsevier Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
