Individuals: The Role of Conditional Risk Factors

Results: CAC was nearly twice as prevalent in white (19.3%) than in black participants (10.3%; p=.003) between the ages of 40 and 45 yrs. Blacks had different CV risk profiles, including a greater prevalence of hypertension, (17.7% vs. 6.6%; p<.001), LVH (13.3% vs. 4.1%; p <.001 ), ST-T wave abnormalities (18.1% vs. 3.8%; p<.001), and former cigarette smoking (16% vs. 5.2%; p<.001 ). Black subjects also had significantly greater diastolic BP, HDL, glycosylated hemoglobin, lipoprotein (a) and fibrinogen levels, and lower tdglyceride and waist girth than white subjects. After adjustment for these differences, and including socioeconomic adjusters, logistic regression revealed white race, and higher body mass index and triglyoeride levels remained statistically significant predictors of CAC, Conclusions: CAC is less prevalent in black than in white Americans, and this difference is unexplained after adjusting for differences in CV risk factors and socioeconomic status. These differences imply that the use of EBCT as an accurate risk prediction tool in black Americans will require ethnic-specific data on the presence and severity of CAC.