Clinical features of coronary artery ectasia in the elderly

Objective To investigate the incidence, imaging and clinical characteristics in elderly patients with coronary artery ectasia (CAE). Methods A retrospective analysis was conducted on patients with CAE who underwent coronary angiography between January 2006 and December 2012. According to age, the enrolled patients were divided into two groups (elderly group, age ≥ 65years; non-elderly group, age Results The prevalence of CAE in elderly patients was 0.33%. Patients in elderly group were found to have significantly higher proportion of female (30.1% vs. 10.1%, P vs. 45.2%, P = 0.003) and localized ectasia (55.0% vs. 40.2%, P = 0.003). In addition, body mass index (20.90 ± 2.71 kg/m2 vs. 22.31 ± 2.98 kg/2, P vs. 64.6%, P vs. 96.0%, P = 0.002). But the 5-year event free survival rate failed to show a significant difference between the two groups (31.0% vs. 35.0%, P = 0.311). Conclusion The prevalence of CAE in elderly patients was 0.33%, which was about 1/3 of the entire numbers of CAE patients. There were significant differences between the elderly and the non-elderly patients with CAE in terms of coronary artery disease risk factors and coronary artery ectatic characteristics. CAE might be associated with increased mortality risk in the elderly.