[Correlation between myocardial ischemia and carotid atherosclerosis in hypertensive patients].
OBJECTIVE
To analyze the correlation between myocardial ischemia and carotid atherosclerosis in hypertensive patients.


METHODS
The clinical data were collected from 85 hospitalized hypertensive patients admitted between May 2005 and September 2008 without the complication of coronary artery disease as confirmed by cardiac computed tomographic angiography (CTA). According to the results of treadmill exercise test, the patients were divided myocardial ischemia group and ischemia-free group. Univariate and multivariate analyses were used to screen the risk factors of myocardial ischemia. The correlations were analyzed between myocardial ischemia, common carotid artery intima-media thickness (IMT), Crouse score of the carotid plaque, thickness of the intraventricular septum and left artrium. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of IMT and Crouse score in predicting the presence of myocardial ischemia in hypertensive patients.


RESULTS
Carotid plaque formation was identified as the major risk factor of myocardial ischemia in hypertensive patients (OR=4.982, P=0.004). The incidence of myocardial ischemia in the hypertensive patients with carotid plaques was significantly higher than that in the patients without the plaque (Chi2=9.317, P=0.002). Myocardial ischemia in hypertensive patients was positively correlated to the thickness of the intraventricular septum (r=0.362, P=0.001) and left artrium (r=0.298, P=0.009), and the IMT of the common carotid artery was positively correlated to the thickness of the intraventricular septum (r=0.231, P=0.045). The area under cure (AUC) of the ROC curve of Crouse score was 0.726-/+0.061 in predicting the presence of myocardial ischemia in the hypertensive patients (P=0.001), and that of IMT was 0.682-/+0.061 (P=0.006).


CONCLUSIONS
Carotid plaque formation is the major risk factor of myocardial ischemia in hypertensive patients and shows a positive correlation to the onset of myocardial ischemia, but both the common carotid artery IMT and the Crouse score of the carotid plaque are not accurate markers for predicting myocardial ischemia in patients with hypertension.
Nursing School of Guangdong Pharmaceutical University, Guangzhou 510310, China. youth888cn@yahoo.com.cn
Tian-hui
TH
You
Ya-qin
YQ
Lu
Zuo-jun
ZJ
Tian
Yu-lan
YL
Zhou
Tao
T
Wang
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D050197:Atherosclerosis / Q000150:complications* / Q000473:pathology; D017536:Carotid Artery, Common / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology*; D017023:Coronary Angiography / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000150:complications* / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D017202:Myocardial Ischemia / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology; D012307:Risk Factors; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D014463:Ultrasonography