Relationship of aortic valve calcification with coronary artery calcium severity: The Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA)

Background Aortic valve calcification (AVC) and atherosclerosis share causative and pathologic features. Objective We evaluated the relationship between AVC and coronary artery calcium (CAC) severity in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA). Methods Men and women aged 45–84 years (n=6809; mean age, 62 years) were studied. The presence and burden of AVC and CAC were determined by noncontrast cardiac computed tomography. Relative risk regression was used to model the probability of AVC as a function of CAC>0 as well as CAC categories (0, 1–99, 100–399, and ≥400) with the reference group being CAC=0. Results The prevalence of AVC and CAC was 13% and 50%, respectively. Among those without CAC, the prevalence of AVC was 5% and increased across levels of CAC severity such that 14%, 25%, and 38% had AVC with increasing CAC scores of 1–99, 100–399, and ≥400, respectively ( P for trend Conclusion Our study shows that AVC is independently associated with increasing severity of CAC.