Breast arterial calcification: association with coronary artery disease. Work in progress

To assess the association between mammographically detected breast arterial calcification (BAC) and coronary artery disease (CAD) and diabetes mellitus (DM).

The records of 182 women (aged 39-92 years) who underwent both mammography and coronary arteriography were retrospectively reviewed to determine BAC, CAD, and DM status.

For women aged less than 59 years (under-59 group) (n = 54), nearly all women with BAC (n = 8) had CAD (n = 7) and also had DM (n = 6). For this group, the positive predictive value of BAC for CAD was 0.88 and the negative predictive value was 0.65 (chi 2 = 7.7, P < .05). DM was a confounding variable. The positive predictive value of DM for CAD increased from 0.62 when BAC was absent to 1.00 when BAC was present (standard error of difference, .22; P < .10). No significant association between BAC and CAD was found for women aged 59 years and older (n = 128).

BAC in women aged less than 59 years may indicate an additional risk factor for CAD, particularly in diabetic patients.