Correlation between breast arterial calcification and the 10-year fatal cardiovascular risk by means of the SCORE Risk System

Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between Breast Arterial Calcification (BAC) on mammography and the 10-year fatal Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) risk by using SCORE risk system.

Methods: The study was conducted from September 2013 to July 2014. A total of 66 women with BAC and 66 age-matched controls without BAC were analyzed. The groups were compared with respect to demographics, clinical, reproductive, laboratory parameters, and 10-year fatal CVD risk.

Results: The mean ages of the women in the study was 54.0 years (40-85 years). Hypertension, systolic blood pressure, levels of serum total cholesterol and the calculated SCORE risk were higher in the BAC (+) group than in the BAC (-) group (p=0.04, p=0.031, p=0.046, and p=0.038 respectively). Multivariate analysis showed that none of them was independent factor of BAC on mammograms, only the 10-year fatal CVD risk was close to being statistically significant (OR:1.17, CI:0.98-1.38, p=0.06).

Conclusion: BAC on mammography was found to be related to the 10-year fatal CVD risk as calculated by the SCORE risk score system. Additional large-scale prospective studies are required to further assess whether BAC can be considered a useful screening tool for CVD risk prediction in women who screened for breast cancer by mammography.