Sex differences in coronary artery calcium progression: The Korea Initiatives on Coronary Artery Calcification (KOICA) registry

Even with increasing awareness of sex-related differences in atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD), it remains unclear whether the progression of coronary atherosclerosis differs between women and men. We sought to compare coronary artery calcium (CAC) progression between women and men. From a retrospective, multicentre registry of consecutive asymptomatic individuals who underwent CAC scoring, we identified 9,675 men and 1,709 women with follow-up CAC scoring. At baseline, men were more likely to have a CAC score >0 than were women (47.8% vs. 28.6%). The probability of CAC progression at 5 years, defined as [√CAC score (follow-up)—√CAC score (baseline)] ≥2.5, was 47.4% in men and 29.7% in women (pppp = 0.090). Multivariable analysis demonstrated that male sex was independently associated with CAC progression rate among the entire group (p