Calcium deposits tied to heart attack?

Large amounts of calcium in the walls of the coronary arteries are an indicator of increased risk for a coronary event among white, black, Hispanic and Chinese men and women, according to a study in the March 27 New England Journal of Medicine.

The researchers found that a doubling of the calcium scores of the 6,722 men and women in the study increased the estimated probability of myocardial infarction and death from heart disease as well as any coronary event by about 25% during a follow-up period of 3.8 years.

The scans have been thought to provide some advance notice of a future heart attack or other heart problem in pe