Breast artery calcification (BAC) identified on screening mammograms may help identify women at high risk of developing cardiovascular disease (CVD), according to a new analysis published in . clinical image processing.[1]

“Societies such as the Canadian Society of Breast Imaging and the Society of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography recommend that incidental BAC be reported regularly,” said lead author Weill Cornell, MD, of New York City. write researcher Dr. Shadi Azam and colleagues. “However, questions remain about its clinical utility and the management of women with mammography-confirmed BAC. Given that approximately 40 million mammograms are performed each year in the United States, Understanding the relationship between physiology and cardiovascular disease risk factors may provide a gender-specific approach to identifying women at increased risk for cardiovascular disease.”

Azam et al. Researchers looked at data from 215 women between the ages of 40 and 78 who underwent screening mammography and cardiac CT angiography (CCTA) within two years. All patients were treated from 2007 to 2017.

Overall, 18% of women evaluated in this analysis had BAC on their mammograms. These patients had higher mean BMI, higher mean systolic blood pressure, and higher mean diastolic blood pressure than patients without BAC. Additionally, patients with her BAC on mammography had a much higher diabetes rate than those without BAC (23.7% vs. 10.2%).

After adjusting for age, all hypertensive patients with systolic blood pressure ≥130 mmHg and diastolic blood pressure ≥80 mmHg were more likely to present with BAC. These findings were more common in women with a history of childbearing, especially those who gave birth to their first child before the age of 28.