BackgroundCoronary collateral circulation plays an important role in protecting myocardium from ischemia and reducing cardiovascular events. Advanced age might be associated with poor coronary collateral development and cardiovascular outcome. However, limited studies investigate the predictors for collateral development in the elderly population. MethodsThe authors evaluated 950 consecutive patients undergoing coronary angiography and finally analyzed 207 patients of 65 years or more. The collateral scoring system developed by Rentrop was used to classify patients into those with poor or good collateral formation. ResultsThe patients with poor collateral were older age, had lower incidence of smoking, more male sex, had fewer diseased vessels and had a trend to be diabetic. Multivariate analysis showed age (odds ratio (OR)=1.068; P=0.019), diabetes (OR=2.681; P=0.003) and diseased vessels numbers (OR=0.337; P<0.001) were significant predictors of poor collaterals development. Furthermore, age and diabetes have a synergistic effect on poor collateral development (P=0.041 for interaction). ConclusionsEven in the elderly population, age and diabetes might negatively influence the coronary collaterals development.