WEDNESDAY, April 2 (HealthDay News) -- Men with coronary artery calcification are about three times more likely to take statin drugs or aspirin, researchers report in the April 8 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
Allen J. Taylor, M.D., and colleagues from the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., screened 1,640 men (aged 40 to 50 years) for coronary heart disease risk factors and coronary artery calcium. The men received the results but were not prescribed any medications and were followed-up for up to six years.
The researchers found that men with coronary artery calcium had a significantly higher likelihood of receiving a statin (48.5 versus 15.5 percent) or aspirin (53 versus 32.3 percent). After controlling for baseline medications and a number of risk factors, there was a strong and independent association of coronary artery calcium and the use of statins (odds ratio 3.53), aspirin (odds ratio 3.05), or both (odds ratio 6.97).
"In this prospective cohort, the presence of coronary calcification was associated with an independent threefold greater likelihood of statin and aspirin usage," Taylor and colleagues conclude.
Taylor discloses a financial relationship with the pharmaceutical industry.
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