Coronary artery calcium linked to cancer, kidney disease, pneumonia

Patients whose coronary artery calcium scores exceeded 400 were significantly more likely to develop cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, chronic kidney disease, and hip fractures, compared with adults with undetectable CAC, in an analysis of the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis.

The study is the first to examine the relationship between CAC and significant noncardiovascular disease (CVD), said the Johns Hopkins Ciccarone Center for the Prevention of Heart Disease, Baltimore. Patients with CAC scores of 0 represent a unique group of “healthy agers,” 20 percent of initial non-CVD events occurred in the 10 percent of patients with CAC scores of more than 400, and 70 percent of events occurred in patients with scores greater than 0.

While CAC is an established indicator of vascular aging, CVD risk, and all-cause mortality, its relationship with non-CVD is unclear. To elucidate the issue, the researchers analyzed data from the prospective, observational Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis, which included 6,814 adults aged 45-84 years from six US cities. Patients had no CVD and were not receiving cancer treatment.

Over a median follow-up period of 10.2 years, and after demographic factors and predictors of CVD were controlled for, patients with CAC scores exceeding 400 were significantly more likely to develop cancer, chronic kidney disease, pneumonia, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and hip fracture, compared with patients without detectable CAC. Patients with CAC scores of 0 were at significantly lower risk of these diagnoses, compared with patients with scores greater than 0.