title: Risk factors and segment-specific carotid arterial enlargement in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) cohort.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  B-mode ultrasound imaging affords the opportunity to quantify both intimal-medial thickness (IMT) and lumen diameter of extracranial carotid arteries in ambulatory populations. Since the relation of IMT to lumen diameter may be complex, we asked whether cardiovascular disease risk factors (previously shown to be associated with greater arterial IMT) are related to smaller lumen diameters.
  
  
  METHODS
  We used B-mode ultrasound to quantify lumen diameter, interadventitial diameter, and IMT of the extracranial carotid arteries and assessed the relationship of these measures to body mass index, smoking, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, hypertension, and diabetes in 6088 male and 7493 female participants in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) cohort.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Smoking, hypertension, and LDL cholesterol were consistently related to greater IMT in the common and internal carotid arteries of men and women, as has been previously reported. In the internal carotid artery, smoking, hypertension, and LDL cholesterol were consistently related to smaller lumens. In the common carotid artery, body mass index, smoking, and hypertension were related to significantly larger, and LDL cholesterol to smaller, lumens. Thus, only LDL cholesterol was consistently associated with smaller lumens in both the common and internal carotid arteries.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Risk factors relate positively to IMT in both the common and internal carotid arteries and inversely with lumen diameter in the internal carotid artery, in parallel with their relation to clinical events. However, their association with lumen diameters of the common carotid artery in population-based samples is more complex, and in some cases adverse levels of risk factors may be associated with larger lumens.
authors.affiliation: Bowman Gray School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC 27157-1047, USA.
authors.forename: J R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Crouse
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Goldbourt
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Evans
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pinsky
authors.forename: A R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Sharrett
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sorlie
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Riley
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Heiss
mesh_terms: D001161:Arteriosclerosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000453:epidemiology; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002340:Carotid Artery Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000453:epidemiology; D017536:Carotid Artery, Common / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D002343:Carotid Artery, Internal / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D008076:Cholesterol, HDL / Q000097:blood; D008078:Cholesterol, LDL / Q000097:blood; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011159:Population Surveillance; D012307:Risk Factors; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology; D017539:Tunica Intima / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D017540:Tunica Media / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D014463:Ultrasonography; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology
chemical_list: D008076:Cholesterol, HDL; D008078:Cholesterol, LDL