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Association between conventional risk factors and different ultrasound-based markers of atherosclerosis at carotid and femoral levels in a middle-aged population

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Abstract

Ultrasound detection of sub-clinical atherosclerosis (ATS) may help identify individuals at high cardiovascular risk. Most studies evaluated intima-media thickness (IMT) at carotid level. We compared the relationships between main cardiovascular risk factors (CVRF) and five indicators of ATS (IMT, mean and maximal plaque thickness, mean and maximal plaque area) at both carotid and femoral levels. Ultrasound was performed on 496 participants aged 45–64 years randomly selected from the general population of the Republic of Seychelles. 73.4 % participants had ≥1 plaque (IMT thickening ≥1.2 mm) at carotid level and 67.5 % at femoral level. Variance (adjusted R2) contributed by age, sex and CVRF (smoking, LDL-cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol, blood pressure, diabetes) in predicting any of the ATS markers was larger at femoral than carotid level. At both carotid and femoral levels, the association between CVRF and ATS was stronger based on plaque-based markers than IMT. Our findings show that the associations between CVRF and ATS markers were stronger at femoral than carotid level, and with plaque-based markers rather than IMT. Pending comparison of these markers using harder cardiovascular endpoints, our findings suggest that markers based on plaque morphology assessed at femoral artery level might be useful cardiovascular risk predictors.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank all the survey officers and the Ministry of Health, Republic of Seychelles, for continued support to epidemiological research. The Seychelles Heart Study III was conducted by the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Seychelles, with the collaboration and support of the University Institute of Social and Preventive of Lausanne (Switzerland); the Canton Laboratory of Hematology and Clinical Chemistry, St-Gallen (Switzerland); and the World Health Organization (WHO). The software for semi-automatic measurement of IMT (M’ATH v 2.1) was provided by Metris, 95100 Argenteuil, France.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Cardiology, Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV), Rue du Bugnon 46, 1011, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Patrick Yerly & Pierre Vogt

  2. Unit for Prevention and Control of Cardiovascular Disease, Ministry of Health, Victoria, Republic of Seychelles

    Patrick Yerly, Barathi Viswanathan & Pascal Bovet

  3. Department of Ambulatory Care and Community Medicine, Lausanne University Hospital, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Nicolas Rodondi

  4. Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine (IUMSP), Lausanne University Hospital, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Pascal Bovet

  5. Institute of Clinical Chemistry and Hematology, Canton Hospital, St-Gallen, Switzerland

    Walter Riesen

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  1. Patrick Yerly
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Correspondence to Patrick Yerly.

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Yerly, P., Rodondi, N., Viswanathan, B. et al. Association between conventional risk factors and different ultrasound-based markers of atherosclerosis at carotid and femoral levels in a middle-aged population. Int J Cardiovasc Imaging 29, 589–599 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10554-012-0124-3

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