Carotid arterial wall characteristics are associated with incident ischemic stroke but not coronary heart disease in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study.
OBJECTIVE
Ultrasound measurements of arterial stiffness are associated with atherosclerosis risk factors, but limited data exist on their association with incident cardiovascular events. We evaluated the association of carotid ultrasound-derived arterial stiffness measures with incident coronary heart disease (CHD) and ischemic stroke in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study.


METHODS
Carotid arterial strain and compliance, distensibility and stiffness indices, pressure-strain, and Young elastic moduli were measured in 10 407 individuals using ultrasound. Hazard ratios for incident CHD (myocardial infarction, fatal CHD, coronary revascularization) and stroke in minimally adjusted (age, sex, center, race) and fully adjusted models (minimally adjusted model+diabetes, height, weight, total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, tobacco use, systolic blood pressure, antihypertensive medication use, and carotid intima-media thickness) were calculated.


RESULTS
The mean age was 55.3 years. Over a mean follow-up of 13.8 years, 1267 incident CHD and 383 ischemic stroke events occurred. After full adjustment for risk factors and carotid intima-media thickness, all arterial stiffness parameters (carotid arterial strain hazard ratio [HR], 1.14 [95% CI, 1.02-1.28]; arterial distensibility HR, 1.19 [1.02-1.39]; stiffness indices HR, 1.14 [1.04-1.25]; pressure-strain HR, 1.17 [1.06-1.28]; Young elastic moduli HR, 1.13 [1.03-1.24]), except arterial compliance (HR, 1.02 [0.90-1.16], were significantly associated with incident stroke but not with CHD.


CONCLUSIONS
After adjusting for cardiovascular risk factors, ultrasound measures of carotid arterial stiffness are associated with incident ischemic stroke but not incident CHD events despite that the 2 outcomes sharing similar risk factors.


BACKGROUND
URL: www.clinicaltrials.gov. Unique identifier: NCT00005131.
Section of Atherosclerosis & Vascular Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston TX, USA.
Eric Y
EY
Yang
Lloyd
L
Chambless
A Richey
AR
Sharrett
Salim S
SS
Virani
Xiaoxi
X
Liu
Zhengzheng
Z
Tang
Eric
E
Boerwinkle
Christie M
CM
Ballantyne
Vijay
V
Nambi
D050197:Atherosclerosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D002545:Brain Ischemia / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D002339:Carotid Arteries / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000503:physiopathology; D059168:Carotid Intima-Media Thickness; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D020521:Stroke / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000503:physiopathology