title: Prevalence of asymptomatic carotid atherosclerotic lesions detected by high-resolution ultrasonography and its relation to cardiovascular risk factors in the general population of a Japanese city: the Suita study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Because extracranial carotid atherosclerotic lesions have been considered rare, no reports have been published on the prevalence and distribution of these lesions in a general Japanese population. However, recent changes in lifestyle are thought to have caused an increase in these lesions. The aim of this study was to use high-resolution ultrasonography to examine the prevalence of asymptomatic extracranial carotid artery lesions and its relation to cardiovascular risk factors in an urban Japanese population.
  
  
  METHODS
  The subjects were 814 men and 880 women aged 50 to 79 years randomly sampled from the residents of Suita, a city located in the second largest urban area of Japan. Asymptomatic carotid lesions were detected and evaluated by a single physician with high-resolution B-mode ultrasonography.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We found significant sex differences in the prevalence of atherosclerotic lesions in the extracranial carotid artery; 4.4% of all the subjects, 7.9% of the men, and 1.3% of the women had atherosclerosis accompanied by stenosis of >50%. A strong association between these lesions and the results of a 75-g oral glucose tolerance test was found in both sexes. Multiple regression analysis of carotid atherosclerosis showed significant relationships with age, systolic blood pressure, fasting blood glucose, pack-years of smoking, total serum cholesterol, and HDL cholesterol in men (P<.05) and significant relationships with age, systolic blood pressure, pack-years of smoking, and total serum cholesterol in women (P<.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our data showed that cardiovascular risk factors were strongly related to carotid atherosclerosis and that the proportion of severe carotid atherosclerosis with >50% stenosis was not low and was almost equal to that reported in developed western countries.
authors.affiliation: Department of Preventive Medicine, National Cardiovascular Center, Suita, Japan. mtoshi@hsp.ncvc.gojp
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mannami
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Konishi
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Baba
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Nishi
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Terao
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000453:epidemiology; D001161:Arteriosclerosis / Q000097:blood / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002339:Carotid Arteries / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology*; D008076:Cholesterol, HDL / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D011897:Random Allocation; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012307:Risk Factors; D017678:Sex Distribution; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology; D014280:Triglycerides / Q000097:blood; D014463:Ultrasonography
chemical_list: D008076:Cholesterol, HDL; D014280:Triglycerides