Association between metabolic syndrome, smoking status and coronary artery calcification

Coronary artery calcification (CAC), an indicator of coronary artery stenosis, is an independent risk factor of ischemic heart disease. Smoking increases the risk of metabolic syndrome (MS) and cardiovascular disease. Almost no previous studies have evaluated the combined effect of MS and smoking status on CAC. Therefore, in this study we examined the relationships between CAC, MS, and smoking. This study included 775 adult males without histories of cardiovascular disease who visited the Health Promotion Center at the University Hospital in Gyeonggi-do, Republic of Korea from January 2, 2010 to December 31, 2012. All subjects were screened for CAC by multi-detector computed tomography (MDCT). CAC increased significantly with age and body mass index (BMI). Among MS components, abdominal obesity and elevated fasting blood glucose were correlated with CAC. After adjusting for age and BMI, MS was associated with a 1.46-fold increase in CAC (95% CI:1.02-2.09), abdominal obesity was associated with a 1.45-fold increase (95% CI:1.04-2.04), elevated fasting blood glucose was associated with a 2-fold increase (95% CI:1.36-2.94), and MS and smoking combined were associated with 2.44-fold increase in CAC. Thus, the combination of smoking and MS had a greater impact on CAC than any single factor alone. MS is correlated with an increased risk of CAC, and a combination of MS and smoking is associated with even greater risk. These findings can be used to prevent cardiovascular disease in adults.