title: Cardiovascular determinants of carotid artery disease. The Rotterdam Elderly Study.
abstract: The objective of the present study was to assess the prevalence of moderate and severe stenosis of the right carotid artery in the elderly and its associations with smoking, blood pressure, serum lipid levels, and hemostatic factors. The Rotterdam Elderly Study is a recently started single-center prospective follow-up study of a cohort of 11,854 elderly people aged 55 years or more. In 1990, 954 participants of the Rotterdam Elderly Study underwent ultrasonic duplex examination of the right internal carotid artery. A reduction of the lumen diameter of 16-49% was found in 29 people (3.0%). Severe stenosis (50% or more) was observed in 13 people (1.4%). With differences in age, sex, and body mass index taken into account, subjects with moderate-to-severe carotid artery disease had, compared with participants without stenosis, lower mean high density lipoprotein cholesterol levels (mean difference, 0.10 mmol/l; 95% confidence interval, 0, 0.20) and higher mean fibrinogen levels (difference, 0.24 g/l; 0.04, 0.45). Among them were more people with hypertension (mean difference, 16%) and more current smokers (mean difference, 13%). Factor VIIc and factor VIIIc activity was higher in subjects with carotid artery disease, without, however, reaching statistical significance (mean difference, 0.06 IU/ml [-0.01, 0.12] and 0.21 IU/ml [-0.05, 0.47], respectively). Our data suggest that hypertension, smoking, and reduced serum high density lipoprotein cholesterol levels, combined with unfavorable increases in hemostatic factors, may be related to carotid artery disease in the elderly.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Erasmus University Medical School, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: M L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Bots
authors.forename: P J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Breslau
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Briët
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: de Bruyn
authors.forename: H H
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: van Vliet
authors.forename: F A
authors.initials: FA
authors.lastname: van den Ouweland
authors.forename: P T
authors.initials: PT
authors.lastname: de Jong
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hofman
authors.forename: D E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Grobbee
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D002320:Cardiovascular Physiological Phenomena; D002340:Carotid Artery Diseases / Q000209:etiology*; D016893:Carotid Stenosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006487:Hemostasis; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000150:complications; D002537:Intracranial Arteriosclerosis / Q000150:complications; D008055:Lipids / Q000097:blood; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D012907:Smoking; D014463:Ultrasonography
chemical_list: D008055:Lipids