Abdominal aortic calcification: clinical significance, mechanisms and therapies.

Traditionally abdominal aortic calcification (AAC) has received less intensive study than coronary artery calcification. The widespread use of abdominal imaging has however encouraged recent investigation of this problem. Human association studies suggest that older age, chronic kidney disease and osteoporosis are the most important risk factors for AAC. AAC severity has been consistently associated with death and cardiovascular events and therefore there is growing interest in identifying potential therapies to limit AAC. At present there have only been a small number of well controlled trials designed to assess effective interventions for AAC. Further studies are expected over the coming years. Whether an intervention which effectively limits AAC will also reduce the incidence of cardiovascular events remains to be established.