Improving the CAC Score by Addition of Regional Measures of Calcium Distribution Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis

OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to investigate whether inclusion of simple measures of calcified plaque distribution might improve the ability of the traditional Agatston coronary artery calcium (CAC) score to predict cardiovascular events. BACKGROUND Agatston CAC scoring does not include information on the location and distributional pattern of detectable calcified plaque. METHODS We studied 3,262 (50%) individuals with baseline CAC >0 from MESA (Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis). Muttivessel CAC was defined by the number of coronary vessels with CAC (scored 1 to 4, including the left main). The diffusivity index was calculated as: 1-(CAC in most affected vessel/total CAC), and was used to group participants into concentrated and diffuse CAC patterns. Multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression, area under the curve, and net reclassification improvement analyses were performed for both coronary heart disease (CND) and cardiovascular disease (CVD) events to assess whether measures of regional CAC distribution add to the traditional Agatston CAC score. RESULTS Mean age of the population was 66 +/- 10 years, with 42% women. Median follow-up was 10.0 (9.5 to 10.7) years and there were 368 CHD and 493 CVD events during follow-up. Considerable heterogeneity existed between CAC score group and number of vessels with CAC (p < 0.01). Addition of number of vessels with CAC significantly improved capacity to predict CHD and CVD events in survival analysis (hazard ratio: 1.9 to 3.5 for 4-vessel vs. 1-vessel CAC), area under the curve analysis (C-statistic improvement of 0.01 to 0.033), and net reclassification improvement analysis (category-less net reclassification improvement 0.10 to 0.45). Although a diffuse CAC pattern was associated with worse outcomes in participants with >= 2 vessels with CAC (hazard ratio: 1.33 to 1.41; p < 0.05), adding this variable to the Agatston CAC score and number of vessels with CAC did not further improve global risk prediction. CONCLUSIONS The number of coronary arteries with calcified plaque, indicating increasingly diffuse multivessel subclinical atherosclerosis, adds significantly to the traditional Agatston CAC score for the prediction of CHD and CVD events. (C) 2016 by the American College of Cardiology Foundation.