Abstract Body (Do not enter title and authors here): Introduction
In multiple recent studies, a higher coronary artery calcium score (CACS) has been associated with a higher risk of MACE and all-cause mortality. The relationship between coronary artery calcium (CAC) and the incidence of stroke is poorly defined.

Method
Patients were obtained from the Sanford heart screening program from April 25, 2011 through June 23, 2023. The sample was limited to only those who underwent a CACS. A high CACS was deemed as anything greater than or equal to 300, whereas anything lower was identified as non-high CACS. The odds ratio was calculated via multiple logistic regression to analyze the data.

Results
A total of 33249 patients with CACS were analyzed in this study. The average age of the patients is 56.19 (SD =9.97) and 46% of them are male. Among all the patients in the study, 3529 had a high CACS, of which 399 of them had stroke (11.3%). Our study shows that there is a positive effect between a high CACS and the incidence of stroke. The odds of having stroke are predicted to be 1.95 times larger in patients with high CACS (P-value < 0.001). In comparison to the patients who smoke frequently, the odds of developing a stroke shrink by a factor of about 0.53 and 0.48 for patients who do not smoke (P-value < 0.001) and patients who smoke occasionally (P-value=0.003), respectively. Furthermore, a five-year increase in age results in a 32% increase in odds of developing a stroke for patients with CACS less than 300 (P-value < 0.001), and a 17% increase in odds of developing a stroke for patients with high CACS (P-value = 0.006). However, for each additional year after CACS testing, the odds of stroke decreased by 18%, for patients with CACS less than 300 (P-value < 0.001), and 27%, for patients with high CACS (P-value < 0.001), likely due to interventions done.

Conclusion
Our study showed that a high coronary artery calcium score predicts an increased incidence of stroke in our patient population.