Fig 1.
Illustration of thoracic aortic calcification analysis in current study.
Axial images of ECG-gated, non-enhanced cardiac CT studies with no calcified plaque in a nonsmoker (a), mild calcified plaques in a light smoker and moderate calcified plaques in a heavy smoker (c). Thoracic aortic calcification analysis and software analysis illustrations (d) of aorta and sites of calcification chosen by the software demonstrated as “pink” color as labelled aortic calcified plaques (right-sided CT axial image). Results of Agaston score (TAC) (602.9), total plaque volume (460.3mm3) and mean density (501.7 HU) of total plaques (left-sided column) were displayed automatically by the software.
Table 1.
Demographic and clinical characteristics according smoking habits.
Table 2.
Distribution of TAC related score and prevalence of TAC by smoking dose.
Table 3.
Distribution of TAC related score and prevalence of TAC by smoking duration.
Table 4.
The Association of smoking doses (cigarettes/day) with TAC related score after adjustment for age, gender, and cardiovascular risk factors.
Table 5.
The Association of total pack-year of current smoker with TAC related score after adjustment for age, gender, and cardiovascular risk factors.
Fig 2.
Factors mediating modifying effects of aortic calcification and active smoking.
Presence of thoracic aortic calcification with active smoking showed no effect modifications by age (<55, ≥55 years [median: 49 years in current study]), though was modified by BMI (<25, ≥25 kg/m2, p interaction: 0.046), and showed marginal differential associations with SBP (<140, ≥140 mmHg, p interaction: 0.067) and renal function in terms of eGFR (<80, ≥80 mL/min/1.73 m2, p interaction: 0.078).
Fig 3.
Risk of aortic calcification among subjects with differential smoking exposure patterns in present work.
Markedly increased risk of aortic calcification in current smokers in contrary to those who never or quitted from smoking (ex-smokers) after adjusting for age and relevant clinical cardiovascular risks (ex-smokers and non-smokers as reference group). Subjects who quit smoking (ex-smokers) showed significantly attenuated aortic calcification in age-adjusted and fully adjusted models (non-smokers as reference). Instead, subjects who never smoke showed consistently reduced risk of aortic calcification, even after fully adjustment (Current and ex-smokers as reference group). *denotes p<0.05.