Coronary Artery Disease Ethnic Differences in Coronary Atherosclerosis

OBJECTIVES The study was done to evaluate whether ethnic differences exist in the prevalence of coronary artery calcification (CAC), and to determine whether differences in calcification correlate with the degree of coronary obstruction. BACKGROUND Electron beam tomography (EBT) can be used to quantitate the amount of CAC and assist in prognostication of future cardiac events. It is unclear whether ethnic differences in coronary mortality are related to differences in the prevalence of coronary obstruction and CAC. METHODS A total of 782 symptomatic subjects underwent both EBT and angiography. A 50 % luminal narrowing defined an angiographic obstruction. RESULTS We observed substantial ethnic differences in prevalence of both CAC and angiographic stenosis. In whites (n 453), prevalence of CAC (score 0) was 84%, and significant obstruction on angiogram was 71%. Compared with whites, blacks (n 108) had a significantly lower prevalence of CAC (62%, p 0.001) and angiographic disease (49%, p 0.01). Hispanics (n 177) also had a lower prevalence of CAC (71%, p 0.001) and angiographic obstruction (58%, p 0.01). Asians (n 44) were not significantly different in regard to CAC (73%, p 0.06) or angiographic stenosis (64%, p 0.30). These ethni