Disparities in Coronary Artery Calcium Screening: Daily Dose

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Patient Care brings primary care clinicians a lot of medical news every day—it’s easy to miss an important study. The Daily Dose provides a concise summary of one of the website's leading stories you may not have seen.

Last week, we reported on findings from a study presented at the American College of Cardiology’s 73rd Annual Scientific Session, held April 6-8, 2024, in Atlanta, Georgia that examined potential disparities in coronary artery calcium (CAC) screening.

The study

Researchers obtained patient demographic and occupational data for computed tomography coronary calcium scoring performed between October 2010 and March 2024.

“Household income and population reference data were taken from American Community Survey Data and matched to zip code and regional metropolitan area, respectively,” wrote authors.

The findings

Among the 627 patients (median age, 63 years; 51% women) who received CAC testing, the majority were White (77%) and English-speaking (98%).

Results also showed that health care workers (21%) were the most likely to receive CAC testing followed by persons involved in education (12%). Overall, 33% of participants had masters/professional degrees. In addition, among the cohort, the mean median household income was $94 116, which was greater than the local mean median household income of $81 264 (95% CI, 80 507 – 82 020).

Authors' comment

"These disparities in CAC testing, especially in minorities and non-English speaking patients, should be further explored."

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