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Prevalence of coronary atherosclerosis in an Asian population: findings from coronary computed tomographic angiography

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Abstract

We sought to estimate the prevalence of coronary atherosclerosis by coronary computed tomographic angiography (CCTA) and to identify risk factors attributable to the development of coronary atherosclerosis in an asymptomatic Asian population. We analyzed 6,311 consecutive asymptomatic individuals aged 40 and older with no prior history of coronary artery disease (CAD) who voluntarily underwent CCTA evaluation as part of a general health examination. The mean age of study participants was 54.7 ± 7.4 years, and 4,594 (72.8 %) were male. After age and gender adjustment using the population census of the National Statistical Office, the prevalence of plaque was 40.5 % [95 % confidence interval (CI) 38.1–42.9], and significant CAD (diameter stenosis ≥50 %) was observed in 9.0 % (95 % CI 7.7–10.2). Individuals with significant CAD were significantly older than those without (59.2 ± 8.8 vs. 54.0 ± 7.1 years, p < 0.001). Compared with individuals with no cardiovascular risk factors, there was a higher prevalence of significant CAD in individuals with diabetes mellitus [standardized rate ratio (SRR) 2.66; 95 % CI 1.93–3.68; p < 0.001], hypertension (SRR 2.24; 95 % CI 1.69–2.97; p < 0.001), or hyperlipidemia (SRR 1.65; 95 % CI 1.25–2.17; p < 0.001). There was also a greater prevalence of significant CAD in individuals with an intermediate or high Framingham risk score (SRR 5.91; 95 % CI 2.34–14.95; p < 0.001) or a high atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease risk score (SRR 8.04; 95 % CI 3.04–21.23; p < 0.001). The prevalence of coronary atherosclerosis in this Asian population was not negligible and was associated with known cardiovascular risk factors and high-risk individuals.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by Grants from the Korea Healthcare technology R&D Project, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Republic of Korea (A102065, HI12C0630, and HI10C2020).

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    Authors and Affiliations

    1. Department of Cardiology, Daejeon St. Mary’s Hospital, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Daejeon, Korea

      Gyung-Min Park, Eun Ha Gil & Sung Ho Her

    2. Department of Biostatistics, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea

      Sung-Cheol Yun & Moo Song Lee

    3. Department of Cardiology, Dong-A University Hospital, Busan, Korea

      Young-Rak Cho

    4. Department of Nursing, College of Medicine, Dankook University, Cheonan, Korea

      Seon Ha Kim

    5. Department of Preventive Medicine, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea

      Min-Woo Jo

    6. Department of Cardiology, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, 388-1 Poongnap-dong, Songpa-gu, Seoul, 138-736, Korea

      Seung-Whan Lee, Young-Hak Kim, Seong-Wook Park & Seung-Jung Park

    7. Department of Radiology, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea

      Dong Hyun Yang, Joon-Won Kang & Tae-Hwan Lim

    8. Department of Endocrinology, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea

      Beom-Jun Kim & Jung-Min Koh

    9. Department of the Health Screening and Promotion Center, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea

      Hong-Kyu Kim & Jaewon Choe

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    Correspondence to Young-Hak Kim.

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    Gyung-Min Park and Sung-Cheol Yun have contributed equally to this article.

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    Park, GM., Yun, SC., Cho, YR. et al. Prevalence of coronary atherosclerosis in an Asian population: findings from coronary computed tomographic angiography. Int J Cardiovasc Imaging 31, 659–668 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10554-015-0587-0

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