Mammographic Screening as a Tool for Cardiovascular Risk Assessing. Part 2. Association of Breast Arterial Calcification and Cardiovascular Diseases

Prospects for the use of mammographic detection of breast arterial calcification (BAC) to improve the stratification of cardiovascular risk in the female population are of increasing interest. The purpose of the 2 part of the review is the analysis of modern literature on the relationship of the BAC with the prevalence and mortality from cardiovascular diseases (CVD). The presence of BAC on mammograms is associated with a higher likelihood of myocardial infarction, death from coronary heart disease (CHD) and CVD, as well as a 3.5-fold increase in the risk of CHD and a 5-year coronary incident (p=0.003). Women with BAC have a higher likelihood of coronary artery disease detected during angiography than women without BAC (p<0.001). Severe BAC has a stronger association with CVD than mild calcification. The association of BAC with cerebrovascular diseases and a 1.4-fold increase in the risk of ischemic stroke (p=0.004), atheromatosis of the carotid arteries and an increase in the thickness of the intima-media complex is shown. BAC is associated with atherosclerotic lesions of peripheral arteries and a decrease in the ankle-brachial index <0.9 (p=0.048). In women with chronic kidney disease, the presence of BAC indicates a 4.5-fold increase in the risk of complications associated with impaired blood flow in peripheral arteries. It is shown that the addition of BAC to the generally accepted (standard) vascular risk assessment algorithms Framingham Risk Score and Pooled Cohort Equation significantly increases the accuracy of prediction of CHD (p=0.02 and p=0.010, respectively). The detection of BAC on mammographic screening is a new promising direction for cardiovascular prophylaxis in women and opens up new opportunities for identifying groups of people with subclinical forms of CVD and high cardiovascular risk.

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