Coronary calcified plaque is the type of hardened fatty deposits that line the heart’s arteries and are a hallmark of atherosclerosis, the disease process that sets the stage for a heart attack.
Young adults with any amount of coronary calcified plaque in their arteries are already at risk of a heart attack, a study found.
Researchers from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn., performed CT scans on more than 3,000 participants in their 30s and 40s.
They had assumed that it would be normal to find a small amount of calcified plaque in the participant’s arteries, but they were surprised to find that even a little of it boosted the change of a heart attack fivefold over the next 12 years.
The presence of any coronary artery calcification, even the lowest score, was associated with between a 2.6 and tenfold increase in clinical events over the next 12.5 years.
When it came to those with high coronary artery calcium scores (100 or above), the incidence of death was 22 percent, or approximately one-in-five, they said.
While this study does not mean that people in this age group should get a routine CT test to check for calcium, it does indicate that those with risk factors for heart disease should consider it.
Such risk factors include high blood pressure, abnormal cholesterol, diabetes, obesity and a history of smoking.
The study appeared in JAMA Cardiology.