Zhu X, Cai H, Zhu M, et al. - In a sample of maintenance haemodialysis (MHD) patients (n = 114), with mean age 57.42 ± 13.48 years, and including 64 males (56.1%), researchers assessed the prognostic significance of abdominal aortic calcification (AAC) estimated by plain lateral abdominal radiography. Two groups of patients were defined: no or minor calcification group [AACS (abdominal aortic calcification score) < 5] and moderate to severe calcification group (AACS ≥ 5). Older age, longer dialysis vintage, presence of smoking and higher Log fibroblast growth factor-23 serum levels were identified as independent predictors for moderate to severe calcification. A median follow-up of 6.0 years was performed. Significantly higher all-cause and cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality were observed among patients in the moderate to severe calcification group vs that in the no or minor calcification group, as demonstrated by Kaplan–Meier survival curves. AACS was identified as an independent predictor of CVD mortality, on multivariate Cox regression. According to the findings, AAC prevails in MHD patients and could afford potential predictive information concerning CVD mortality. To assess vascular calcification in daily clinical practice, a possibly suitable screening method is plain lateral abdominal radiography, which represents a simple and cheap tool and involves lower radiation.