Relationship between abdominal aortic calcification on plain radiograph and coronary artery calcification detected by...

Abdominal aortic calcification (AAC) can be assessed easily using a plain radiograph. We investigated the relationship between AAC assessed by plain radiography and coronary artery calcification (CAC) assessed by computed tomography (CT).

62 hemodialysis patients who underwent lumbar lateral radiography and multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) were included in this study. We used logistic regression analyses to identify an independent association between AAC and severe CAC (> 400), and assessed the diagnostic performance of the AAC and CAC scores for prediction of cardiovascular disease (CVD) using receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) analysis.

The mean age of participants was 55.3 ± 11.2 years, and 30 (48.4%) were men. 17 participants had a previous history of CVD. The mean dialysis duration was 4.3 ± 3.0 years. The mean AAC score was 3.6 ± 4.1. AAC scores were significantly positively correlated with CAC scores (r = 0.464, p < 0.001). In multivariate logistic analysis, AAC score (odds ratio (OR) 1.387, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.117 - 1.723, p = 0.003) was independently associated with a severe CAC score (> 400). The areas under the ROC curve for CAC and AAC scores were 0.877 (95% CI 0.791 - 0.964, p < 0.001) and 0.723 (95% CI 0.570 - 0.876, p = 0.007), respectively.

A high AAC score on plain radiograph is an independent risk factor for severe CAC score on CT and can be used to predict CVD.