News Release

Stroke risk linked to calcium in the heart’s arteries

Peer-Reviewed Publication

American Heart Association

American Stroke Association journal brief

DALLAS, Feb. 1 – In the first study of its kind, researchers show an association between calcium in the coronary arteries and stroke, according to a report in the February issue of Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association.

“The study shows that people who experience stroke have higher amounts of calcium in their coronary arteries,” says Jacqueline C.M. Witteman, Ph.D., an associate professor of epidemiology in the department of epidemiology and biostatistics at the Erasmus University Medical School at Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

Coronary calcification is related to the amount of underlying coronary atherosclerosis that narrows the blood vessels and causes heart attacks. Atherosclerosis is characterized by the fatty deposits in the blood vessels that can block blood flow, causing a heart attack or stroke. The coronary calcium score, derived from electron-beam computed tomography (EBCT) scans of the coronary arteries, is known to predict the occurrence of cardiac events, such as fatal and nonfatal heart attacks or the need for coronary bypass surgery or coronary (balloon) angioplasty over the next one or two years. EBCT is an especially fast form of X-ray imaging.

“Our finding suggests that calcification of the coronary arteries is also a marker of the presence of atherosclerosis elsewhere in the vascular system,” says Witteman.

The researchers studied 2,013 participants, including 50 stroke survivors, in the Rotterdam Coronary Calcification Study. All volunteers underwent an EBCT scan. Subjects were given calcium scores based on the amount of calcium accumulation in their coronary arteries.

Witteman’s team found that compared to individuals in the lowest calcium category, those with scores between 101 and 500 were twice as likely to have had a stroke. Subjects were three times more likely to be stroke sufferers if their calcium score was above 500.

“Our results hardly changed when known cardiovascular disease risk factors were taken into account. This suggests that coronary calcification in the circulatory system is independently associated with stroke, regardless of the presence or absence of other known cardiovascular risk factors,” says Witteman.

However, this study looked only at people who had already had a stroke. Prospective studies are needed to determine whether healthy people with higher amounts of calcification are at increased risk of stroke, she adds.

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Co-authors include: Rozemarijn Vliegenthart, M.Sc.; Monika Hollander, M.D., Monique M.B. Breteler, M.D., Ph.D.; Deirdre A.M. van der Kuip, M.D., Ph.D.; Albert Hofman, M.D., Ph.D.; and Matthijs Oudkerk, M.D., Ph.D.

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