Aortic stenosis calcium scoring in a racially mixed sample

Monaldi Arch Chest Dis. 2020 Oct 2;90(4). doi: 10.4081/monaldi.2020.1429.

Abstract

Aortic stenosis (AS) is common and increasing in prevalence as the population ages. Using computed tomography (CT) to quantify aortic valve calcification (AVC) it has been reported that men have greater degrees of calcification than women among subjects with severe AS. These data, however, were derived in largely Caucasian populations and have not been verified in non-Caucasian subjects. This retrospective study identified 137 patients with severe AS who underwent valve replacement and had CT scans within 6 months prior to surgery. AVC scores were compared between men and women, both in the entire sample and in racial subgroups. 52% of subjects were male and 62.8% were non-Caucasian. Mean AVC score for the entire cohort was 3062.08±2097.87 with a range of 428-13,089. Gender differences in aortic valve calcification were found to be statistically significant with an average AVC score of 3646±2422 in men and 2433±1453 in women (p=0.001). On multivariate analysis, gender remained significantly associated with AVC score both in the entire sample (p=0.014) and in the non-Caucasian subgroup (p=0.008). Mean AVA was significantly greater in males than females but this difference disappeared when AVA was indexed to BSA (p=0.719). AVA was not different between racial groups (p=0.369). In this research we observed that among subjects with severe AS men have higher AVC scores than women regardless of racial background. This is consistent with previous studies in predominantly Caucasian populations.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study

MeSH terms

  • Aged
  • Aged, 80 and over
  • Aortic Valve / diagnostic imaging
  • Aortic Valve / pathology*
  • Aortic Valve Stenosis / diagnostic imaging
  • Aortic Valve Stenosis / epidemiology
  • Aortic Valve Stenosis / ethnology
  • Aortic Valve Stenosis / pathology*
  • Aortic Valve Stenosis / surgery
  • Calcinosis / complications
  • Calcinosis / diagnostic imaging*
  • Calcinosis / ethnology
  • Comorbidity
  • Echocardiography / standards
  • Ethnicity / statistics & numerical data
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Prevalence
  • Retrospective Studies
  • Risk Factors
  • Severity of Illness Index
  • Sex Characteristics
  • Tomography, X-Ray Computed / methods

Supplementary concepts

  • Aortic Valve, Calcification of