Abstract P321: Influence of Cigarette Smoking on Coronary and Aortic Calcification Among Community-based Middle-aged Japanese and Korean Men

Abstract

Background: Incidence of coronary heart disease (CHD) among Japanese and Korean men is low among industrialized countries despite their high rates of cigarette smoking. We hypothesized that cigarette smoking is associated with coronary (CC) and aortic calcification (AC) in Japanese and Korean men regardless of their low incidence rates of CHD. Method: To test this hypothesis, a community-based sample of 313 Japanese and 302 Korean men aged 40-49 were examined for CC and AC using electron-beam computed tomography. We examined the relationship between cigarette smoking and calcification after adjusting for conventional risk factors (age, BMI, alcohol consumption, systolic blood pressure, high-density and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and fasting serum glucose). Current and past smokers were combined and categorized into two groups using the median of pack-years of smoking as a cutoff point. Never-smokers were used as a reference for multiple logistic regression analyses. Results: The odds ratios of the presence of CC (Agatston score ≥ 10) for smokers of lower and higher level of smoking were 1.0 and 2.9 (p = 0.035 for trend) in Japanese and 0.8 and 1.3 (p = 0.647 for trend) in Koreans. The odds ratios of the presence of AC (Agatston score ≥ 100) for smokers of lower and higher level were 2.0 and 10.4 (p < 0.001 for trend) in Japanese and 2.1 and 3.6 (p = 0.012 for trend) in Koreans. Conclusion: Cigarette smoking is associated with coronary and aortic calcification in Japanese men while smoking is only associated with aortic calcification in Korean men. Table Odds ratios of having coronary and aortic calcification by smoking status in Japanese and Korean men Never smoke Low pack-years smoke High pack-years smoke P value Japanese CC Agatston≥10 1.0 1.0 2.9 <0.035 95% C.I. [0.2, 4.2] [0.8, 11.3] AC Agatston≥100 1.0 2.0 10.4 <0.001 95% C.I. [0.4, 9.8] [2.3, 47.1] Koreans CC Agatston≥10 1.0 0.8 1.3 0.647 95% C.I. [0.3, 2.4] [0.5, 3.8] AC Agatston≥100 1.0 2.1 3.6 0.012 95% C.I. [0.9, 4.9] [1.5, 8.6] AC and CC indicates aortic and coronary calcification, respectively.