Aortic and Mitral Calcification Is Marker of Significant Carotid and Limb Atherosclerosis in Patients with First Acute Coronary Syndrome

Purpose Atherosclerosis is a systemic disease and coronary artery disease is frequently associated with peripheral artery disease. As aortic and mitral valvular calcification (VC) share some etiopathogenetic mechanisms with atherosclerosis, we analyzed the risk profile and the echocardiographic characteristics of patients admitted for first acute coronary syndrome (ACS) to investigate whether the presence of VC could be a marker of asymptomatic hemodynamically significant peripheral atherosclerosis. Methods A total of 151 patients admitted for ACS without previous history of cardiovascular disease were consecutively enrolled. The presence of VC was identified by echocardiography; a carotid stenosis ≥50% by ultrasound identified carotid artery disease (CarAD); an ankle–brachial index ≤0.9 or ≥1.4 identified lower extremity artery disease (LEAD). Significant peripheral atherosclerosis was defined by the presence of CarAD and/or LEAD. Results Peripheral atherosclerosis was diagnosed in 82 (54.3%) patients; isolated CarAD in 24, isolated LEAD in 20, both diseases in 38 patients. VC was present in 103 (68.2%) patients. By multivariate analysis, age (OR = 1.059, 95% CI 1.007–1.113, P = 0.025), diabetes mellitus (OR = 5.068, 95% CI 1.480–17.351, P = 0.010), VC (OR = 7.422, 95% CI 2.421–22.880, P