title: Left, right, near or far wall common carotid intima-media thickness measurements: associations with cardiovascular disease and lower extremity arterial atherosclerosis.
abstract: We evaluated the differences in strength of the associations of prevalent cardiovascular disease and lower extremity arterial atherosclerosis to common carotid intima-media thickness, assessed by near wall measurements only, by far wall measurements only, and by the average of near and far wall measurements. The study was based on data from 1500 participants of the Rotterdam Study, a single-center-population-based prospective follow-up study among 7983 subjects, aged 55 years or over. Comparison of the strength of the associations of near wall intima-media thickness and of combined near and far wall intima-media thickness to cardiovascular disease and lower extremity arterial atherosclerosis revealed significantly stronger associations compared to associations observed for far wall intima-media thickness, in particular for stroke and lower extremity arterial disease. We conclude that near wall common carotid intima-media thickness measurement provides at least as good an indicator of atherosclerosis elsewhere and of cardiovascular risk as the far wall intima-media thickness measurement.
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 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: D001161:Arteriosclerosis / Q000473:pathology*; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000473:pathology*; D017536:Carotid Artery, Common / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D006801:Humans; D006937:Hypercholesterolemia / Q000473:pathology; D006973:Hypertension / Q000473:pathology; D007866:Leg / Q000098:blood supply; D016014:Linear Models; D008875:Middle Aged; D016491:Peripheral Vascular Diseases / Q000473:pathology; D012307:Risk Factors; D012907:Smoking / Q000473:pathology; D017539:Tunica Intima / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D017540:Tunica Media / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D014463:Ultrasonography