title: Impact of atherosclerosis risk factors on the clinical presentation of arterial occlusive disease in Arabic patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Although the risk factors for atherosclerosis have been identified, their impact on the presentation of arterial occlusive disease has not been studied among Arabs.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To determine the correlation between atherosclerotic risk factors and the extent and presentation of atherosclerotic disease in different arterial systems.
  
  
  METHODS
  The present case-control study was performed on a consecutive series of Arabic patients over one year. There were two groups - an atherosclerotic group, which included patients with peripheral arterial disease, extracranial cerebrovascular disease or coronary artery disease (CAD), and the control group, which included patients admitted to one of the general surgical units who were free from atherosclerotic disease. All patients underwent evaluation of risk factors (diabetes mellitus [DM], smoking, dyslipidemia and hypertension) for atherosclerosis and systemic assessment of the vascular tree.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Two hundred fifteen patients in the atherosclerotic group and 191 patients in the control group were included in the study. There were positive correlations between the prevalence of DM, smoking, dyslipidemia and the severity of presentation of peripheral arterial disease, and the extent of CAD. The correlation between the incidence of DM and the severity of presentation of CAD was also significant. The correlation was also positive between the incidence of ex-smoking and hypertension, and the severity of presentation of extracranial cerebrovascular disease.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Different risk factors may interact in different ways in the clinical presentation of atherosclerotic disease in different arterial systems.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, King Faisal University, Al-Khobar, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. elsharawya@yahoo.co.uk
authors.forename: Mohamed A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Elsharawy
authors.forename: Akram H
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Alkhadra
authors.forename: Mohammed Fakhary A
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Ibrahim
authors.forename: Fathi
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Selim
authors.forename: Khairy
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hassan
authors.forename: Aymen S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Elsaid
authors.forename: Ahmed
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bahnassy