Superior mesenteric artery calcification is associated with cardiovascular risk factors, systemic calcified atherosclerosis, and increased mortality

SMAC is associated with specific CVD risk factors as well as with calcification in all other arterial beds. SMAC extent was significantly associated with incident cardiovascular mortality, whereas both SMAC presence and extent were significantly associated with all-cause mortality, even after adjustment for risk factors and calcification in other arterial beds. Further studies are needed to determine whether SMAC is simply a marker for advanced and systemic disease or whether it confers increased mortality risk through an independent mechanism.