Coronary artery calcification across ethnic groups in Singapore

Abstract

Introduction: In Singapore, the age-standardised event rates of myocardial infarction (MI) are 2- and 3-fold higher for Malays and Indians respectively compared to the Chinese. The objectives of this study were to determine the prevalence and quantity of coronary artery calcification (CAC) and non-calcified plaques across these3 ethnic groups. Materials and Methods: This was a retrospective descriptive study. We identified 1041 patients (810 Chinese, 139 Malays, 92 Indians) without previous history of cardiovascular disease who underwent cardiac computed tomography for atypical chest pain evaluation. A cardiologist, who was blinded to the patients' clinical demographics, reviewed all scans. We retrospectively analysed all their case records. Results: Overall, Malays were most likely to be active smokers (P = 0.02), Indians had the highest prevalence of diabetes mellitus (P = 0.01) and Chinese had the highest mean age (P