Does coronary calcium score predict future cardiac function? Association of subclinical atherosclerosis with left ventricular systolic and diastolic dysfunction at MR imaging in an elderly cohort.

Purpose: To evaluate subclinical atherosclerosis measured by using coronary artery calcium (CAC) as a predictor of future left ventricular (LV) systolic and diastolic function in asymptomatic elderly participants.

Materials And Methods: The institutional review boards of the University of Southern California and the Harbor University of California Los Angeles Research and Education Institute (where the South Bay Heart Watch study was initially conducted) approved this HIPAA-compliant study of 386 participants (mean age, 75.2 years) from among the original 1461 participants in the longitudinal South Bay Heart Watch prospective investigation of subclinical atherosclerosis.