Coronary artery calcification progression in asymptomatic individuals with initial score of zero

The aim of this study is to determine the progression of coronary artery calcification (CAC) using electron beam computed tomography (CT) when the initial CAC score (CACS) is zero and to determine the best interval to repeat a CAC scan. We studied 388 individuals with zero CACS (308 males; mean age: 48.8 ± 8.26 years) who underwent 2 consecutive CT scans in a period of at least 12 months apart. The interscan period was 2.99 ± 1.35 years (range: 1-6 years). Three-quarters of the individuals (75%) did not develop any CAC progression, 20.87% presented CAC progression of 1 to 10, 3.6% had 11 to 50, whereas only 0.51% had >50. The average time of new CAC development was 4.2 ± 1.1 years. Individuals with CAC progression presented higher incidence of hypertension, diabetes mellitus, hypercholesterolaemia and higer frequency of male gender than those with without CAC changes (p<0.02). No cardiac events occurred during the follow-up period.