High coronary artery calcium score is a measure of arterial aging and predicts the risk of non-cardiovascular diseases such as cancer, kidney and lung disease.
A measure of arterial aging called arterial calcium score puts people at greater risk not only for heart and vascular disease but also for non-cardiovascular diseases such as cancer, chronic kidney disease and lung diseases, says a study. // The findings are based on a 10-year follow-up study of more than 6,000 people who underwent heart CT scans.
‘Plaque in the arteries is the result of damage and inflammation, making it vulnerable to injury and chronic inflammation which may cause diseases like cancer, kidney and lung diseases apart from heart disease.’
"Plaque in the arteries is the result of cumulative damage and inflammation, and vulnerability to injury and chronic inflammation likely contributes to diseases like cancer, kidney and lung diseases, as well as cardiovascular disease," said one of the researchers Michael Blaha, assistant professor of medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in the US. "So it makes sense that the coronary calcium score is predictive of non-cardiovascular diseases too," Blaha noted.
"The reason the coronary calcium score may work so well at identifying vulnerability to a variety of chronic diseases is because it is a direct measurement of the cumulative effect of all risk factors, rather than a consideration of a single risk factor, like obesity, smoking or high blood pressure," Blaha said.
Heart CT scans quickly and automatically measure how much and how dense the levels of the mineral are in the blood vessels that nourish the heart's arteries.
The 6,814 participants in the study, ages 45 to 84, were free of cardiovascular disease at the time of an initial heart CT scan and coronary calcium score calculation.
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After 10 years, of the 6,814 original participants, 1,238 were diagnosed with a non-cardiovascular disease, including prostate, lung, gastrointestinal/colon, breast, skin, blood and uterine/ovarian cancers, kidney disease, pneumonia, a blood clot, lung disease, dementia, and hip fracture.
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Source-IANS