[Aneurysm of the abdominal aorta. Is arterial hypertension a risk factor?].
OBJECTIVE
the purpose of this study was to measure ecographically and ascertain the characteristics of the abdominal aorta in a sample of the male population over sixty years, and try to correlate the findings with some so-called "risk factors" most currently quoted in the medical press, such as arterial hypertension, diabetes mellitus, tobacco consumption and coronary or cerebrovascular diseases.


METHODS
this is a preliminary note of the results obtained in the first forty patients in a prospective study (still ongoing). They were choose randomly from all those admitted to the general medicine ward of Medicine I Hosp. St. Maria or attended at the Medicine or Cardiology/Hypertension outpatient clinics at the same hospital. Pearson's linear correlation, Student's t test for not paired samples and chi-square tests were used to analyze the results.


RESULTS
the medium value obtained for the abdominal aorta diameter (daa) was 28.8 mm (SD. +/- 3.6). In this sample there was no correlation between the age and daa (r:0.03), nor any statistical difference (chi-square) in the daa between the subgroups creating regarding the existence of hypertension no hypertension, active smoking/no smoking habits, or the association of all these so-called risk factors added to diabetes as opposed to their absence (the number of patients is still insufficient to reach statistical significance).


CONCLUSIONS
in this study no risk factor/marker of the aneurysm of the abdominal aorta was so far detected in a population of aged male patients, but in some groups (as in the association of multiple factors) the number of patients was insufficient to reach any significant statistical conclusion.
Carvalho
L
L
Serviço de Medicina I, Hospital Santa Maria, Lisboa, Portugal.
da Silva
G N
GN
Ramalhinho
V
V
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001012:Aorta, Abdominal; D001014:Aortic Aneurysm / Q000209:etiology*; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000150:complications*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D012907:Smoking / Q000009:adverse effects
Aneurisma da aorta abdominal. Hipertensão arterial como factor de risco?