RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Regional distribution of high-attenuation areas on chest computed tomography in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis JF ERJ Open Research JO erjor FD European Respiratory Society SP 00115-2019 DO 10.1183/23120541.00115-2019 VO 6 IS 1 A1 Bina Choi A1 Steven M. Kawut A1 Ganesh Raghu A1 Eric Hoffman A1 Russell Tracy A1 Purnema Madahar A1 Elana J. Bernstein A1 R. Graham Barr A1 David J. Lederer A1 Anna Podolanczuk YR 2020 UL http://openres.ersjournals.com/content/6/1/00115-2019.abstract AB High-attenuation areas (HAA) are a computed tomography-based quantitative measure of subclinical interstitial lung disease (ILD). We aimed to validate HAA in lung regions that are less subject to artefacts, such as extravascular lung water or dependent atelectasis. We examined the associations of HAA within six lung regions (basilar, non-basilar, peel, core, basilar peel, basilar core) with serum biomarkers of lung remodelling, forced vital capacity (FVC), visually-assessed interstitial lung abnormalities (ILA), and all-cause and ILD-specific mortality.We performed cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses of participants in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis, a prospective cohort of 6814 adults aged 45–84 years without known cardiovascular disease who underwent cardiac computed tomography.Median regional HAA ranged from 3.8% in the peel to 4.8% in the basilar core. Doubling of regional HAA was associated with greater serum matrix metalloproteinase-7 (range 3.8% to 10.3%; p≤0.01), higher odds of ILA (OR 1.42 to 2.20; p≤0.03), and a higher risk of all-cause mortality (hazard ratio 1.20 to 1.47; p≤0.001). Doubling of regional HAA was associated with greater serum interleukin-6 (4.9% to 10.3%; p≤0.005) and higher risk of ILD-specific mortality (hazard ratio 3.30 to 3.98; p<0.001), except in the basilar core. Doubling of regional HAA was associated with lower FVC in the non-basilar, core and basilar core (113 mL to 186 mL; p<0.001).Associations of HAA with lung remodelling biomarkers, ILA risk and all-cause mortality were consistent across all regions of the lung, including dependent areas where atelectasis may be present. These findings support the validity of HAA as a measure of pathologic subclinical ILD.Even when found in small regions of the lungs, high-attenuation areas, a CT-based quantitative measure of subclinical ILD, are associated with biomarkers of lung remodelling, risk of interstitial lung abnormalities and all-cause mortality http://bit.ly/36psfin