title: Recently postmenopausal women have the same prevalence of subclinical carotid atherosclerosis as age and traditional risk factor matched men.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To compare the prevalence of subclinical atherosclerosis between postmenopausal women and men of similar age early after the onset of menopause.
  
  
  METHODS
  In the first part of this cross-sectional study 186 non-diabetic young postmenopausal women (n = 101, menopausal age ≤ 10 years) and men (n = 85) aged 40-60 years without overt CVD were consecutively recruited from the outpatients clinics of an academic hospital. Subclinical carotid atherosclerosis was assessed by high-resolution ultrasonography. The presence of carotid atherosclerosis was defined as either increased carotid intima-media thickness (IMT>0.9 mm) and/or the presence of plaques. In the second part, 1:1 matching for age and traditional risk factors (hyperlipidemia, smoking, hypertension and BMI) was performed between men and women of this cohort resulting in a matched sub-sample of 76 subjects.
  
  
  RESULTS
  By multivariate analysis, gender was not an independent determinant of any measure of carotid atherosclerosis. In the matched sub-sample, carotid IMT and the number of segments with atherosclerosis did not significantly differ between women and men (0.734 ± 0.119 mm and 1.47 ± 1.6 versus 0.717 ± 0.138 mm and 1.47 ± 1.5, p = 0.575 and p = 0.999, respectively). Also, the prevalence of increased IMT (60.5% in both genders), carotid plaques and subclinical atherosclerosis (31.6% and 63.2% versus 28.9% and 65.8%, p = 0.803 and p = 0.811, respectively) was similar between men and women.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The prevalence and severity of carotid atherosclerosis was similar between men and young postmenopausal women matched for traditional risk factors. Whether these women may be better risk stratified irrespective of gender should be further assessed in prospective studies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Therapeutics, 80 Vas Sofias Ave, University of Athens, Alexandra Hospital, Athens, Greece. stamatelopoulosk@yahoo.gr
authors.forename: Kimon S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Stamatelopoulos
authors.forename: Eleni
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Armeni
authors.forename: Georgios
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Georgiopoulos
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kazani
authors.forename: Katerina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kyrkou
authors.forename: Konstantinos
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Stellos
authors.forename: Athanasios
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Koliviras
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Alexandrou
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Creatsa
authors.forename: Christos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Papamichael
authors.forename: Irene
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Lambrinoudaki
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D058070:Asymptomatic Diseases; D002340:Carotid Artery Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000453:epidemiology*; D059168:Carotid Intima-Media Thickness; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006115:Greece / Q000453:epidemiology; D006785:Hospitals, University; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D010044:Outpatient Clinics, Hospital; D017698:Postmenopause; D015995:Prevalence; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012737:Sex Factors