Carotid calcifications on panoramic radiographs: a 5-year follow-up study

The aim of this study was to determine whether people with calcifications in the area of the carotid arteries on panoramic radiographs (CALPANs) have an increased prevalence of vascular risk factors or an increased risk of future vascular events.

We included 113 consecutive patients with CALPANs and 116 gender- and age-matched controls without CALPANs. Vascular risk factors were generally known in the study population, since it was recorded in a population-based community-screening program.

Patients with CALPANs had a higher prevalence of vascular risk factors than controls independent of previous vascular events. During the 5.4-year follow-up, patients with CALPANs had a higher risk of a combined endpoint of vascular events (5.6%/yr) compared with the controls (2.4%/yr) (P = .004 by log rank test; unadjusted hazard ratio (HR) 2.4; 95% CI 1.3-4.3). This difference was not significant when previous vascular events and risk factors were taken into account (adjusted HR; 1.2; 95% CI 0.6-2.3; P = .62; Cox regression).

People with CALPANs are very likely to have vascular risk factors, but these factors might be unknown when CALPANs are detected. Accordingly, patients with CALPANs should be advised to have their vascular risk factors regularly checked in order to receive advice on preventive lifestyle modifications and medical treatment when indicated. However, it remains unknown whether CALPANs add information about the independent risk of future vascular events. Therefore, further studies are warranted to investigate whether the detection of CALPANs indicates a need for additional or more intense vascular treatment.