Ultrasound evaluation of carotid artery intima-media thickness in patients with risk factors for cardiovascular disease

Objective: The study purpose was to assess the change of carotid artery intima-media thickness (CAIMT) in patients with cardiovascular risk factors (CVRF), and determine the main factor that causing the abnormal IMT.Methods: We collected the data of 89 patients who underwent a carotid artery ultrasound between February 2011 and November 2012 (43 men and 46 women aged between 20-80 years old). All patients included in the study had one of the following cardiovascular risk factors: smoking (n = 40), arterial hypertension (n = 25) or diabetes mellitus (n = 24). The IMT of the common carotid artery was measured and the results were correlated with the recorded risk factor. Correlation with the patient’s age and gender was also performed.Results: The study revealed abnormal IMT (> 1 mm) in a total of 71 (79.8%) patients. These included 22 (88%) patients with hypertension, 19 (79.2%) patients with diabetes mellitus and 30 (75%) patients who were smokers (p < .05 for all 3 risk factors). While aging was also associated with increased IMT (p < .05), no gender differences were noted (p > .05).Conclusions: The present study showed that ultrasound is an excellent, noninvasive method for evaluation of carotid intima-media thickness. The main risk factors associated with abnormal carotid IMT were hypertension, diabetes mellitus, smoking andpatient’s age.

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Low serum albumin☆Association with diabetes mellitus and other cardiovascular risk factors but not with prevalent cardiovascular disease or carotid artery intima-media thickness

Annals of Epidemiology ◽

10.1016/1047-2797(94)00105-3 ◽

1995 ◽

Vol 5 (3) ◽

pp. 186-191 ◽

Cited By ~ 30

Author(s):

Aaron R. Folsom ◽

Jing Ma ◽

John H. Eckfeldt ◽

F.Javier Nieto ◽

Patricia A. Metcalf ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Diabetes Mellitus ◽

Risk Factors ◽

Cardiovascular Disease ◽

Cardiovascular Risk ◽

Carotid Artery ◽

Serum Albumin ◽

Cardiovascular Risk Factors ◽

Intima Media Thickness ◽

Media Thickness ◽

Low Serum

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Meta-analysis of epigenome-wide association studies of carotid intima-media thickness

European Journal of Epidemiology ◽

10.1007/s10654-021-00759-z ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Eliana Portilla-Fernández ◽

Shih-Jen Hwang ◽

Rory Wilson ◽

Jane Maddock ◽

W. David Hill ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Risk Factors ◽

Cardiovascular Disease ◽

Dna Methylation ◽

Cardiovascular Risk ◽

Cardiovascular Risk Factors ◽

Association Studies ◽

Subclinical Atherosclerosis ◽

Intima Media Thickness ◽

Carotid Intima Media Thickness ◽

Media Thickness

AbstractCommon carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT) is an index of subclinical atherosclerosis that is associated with ischemic stroke and coronary artery disease (CAD). We undertook a cross-sectional epigenome-wide association study (EWAS) of measures of cIMT in 6400 individuals. Mendelian randomization analysis was applied to investigate the potential causal role of DNA methylation in the link between atherosclerotic cardiovascular risk factors and cIMT or clinical cardiovascular disease. The CpG site cg05575921 was associated with cIMT (beta = −0.0264, p value = 3.5 × 10–8) in the discovery panel and was replicated in replication panel (beta = −0.07, p value = 0.005). This CpG is located at chr5:81649347 in the intron 3 of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor repressor gene (AHRR). Our results indicate that DNA methylation at cg05575921 might be in the pathway between smoking, cIMT and stroke. Moreover, in a region-based analysis, 34 differentially methylated regions (DMRs) were identified of which a DMR upstream of ALOX12 showed the strongest association with cIMT (p value = 1.4 × 10–13). In conclusion, our study suggests that DNA methylation may play a role in the link between cardiovascular risk factors, cIMT and clinical cardiovascular disease.

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