Women whose breast arteries are found to have calcifications on mammography are at elevated risk of coronary artery disease as well, reported researchers here December 4 at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America.
Kirk M. Doerger, MD, and colleagues at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, United States, said that, in contrast to a previous study that evaluated coronary artery disease on the basis of self-report, this study found that the age-adjusted relative risk attributable to breast artery calcification was less than that associated with diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia, or smoking.
The study enrolled 1880 subjects who had mammograms and coronary angiograms within one year of each other, with 1803 of these being usable for purposes of the study. Average age was 65.4 years; 819 turned out to have some at least 50 percent stenosis of a coronary artery – a figure undoubtedly elevated by the fact only subjects with recent coronary angiograms were enrolled.
At least some breast artery calcification was found in 844 patients, while 405 had a breast artery calcification score greater than 1.5, averaged between the two breasts. Calcification score were assigned by the radiologist on a scale from 0 to 3, representing the number of
arteries affected.
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