title: Reference diameters of the abdominal aorta and iliac arteries in the Korean population.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  It is important to know the normal diameter of artery throughout the body so that clinicians are able to determine when an artery becomes aneurysmal. However, there are no previous studies on the normal diameter of arteries in the general Korean population. The purpose of this article is to determine the normal reference diameters of the abdominal aorta and iliac arteries in the Korean population.
  
  
  METHODS
  We recruited the study population from three cities in Korea for the abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) screening. We measured the diameter of the aorta and iliac arteries. We analyzed the reference diameter of the population without AAA. The results were analyzed by Student's t-test and ANOVA on SPSS version 19. A p value <0.05 was considered to be statistically significant.
  
  
  RESULTS
  One thousand two hundred and twenty-nine people were enrolled. 478 men and 751 women, with a mean age of 63.9 ± 10.1 years (range 50 to 91) were examined. Eleven out of 1229 (0.89%) were diagnosed with AAA. In the population of 1218 people without AAA, the mean diameters (cm) of male/female were 2.20/2.11 (p<0.001) at suprarenal, 2.04/1.90 (p<0.001) at renal, 1.90/1.79 (p<0.001) at infrarenal, 1.22/1.17 (p<0.001) at right iliac and 1.47/1.15 (p=0.097) at the left iliac, respectively. There was a significantly larger diameter in the male population. The diameter of each level increased with age.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The normal reference diameter of the infrarenal abdominal aorta in the Korean population is 1.9 cm in males and 1.79 cm in females. The diameter of the abdominal aorta increases with age.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Kyung Hee University Hospital at Gangdong, School of Medicine, Kyung Hee University, Seoul. jhjoh@khu.ac.kr
authors.forename: Jin Hyun
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Joh
authors.forename: Hyung-Joon
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Ahn
authors.forename: Ho-Chul
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Park
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001012:Aorta, Abdominal / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D017544:Aortic Aneurysm, Abdominal / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000150:complications; D007083:Iliac Artery / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012016:Reference Values; D056910:Republic of Korea; D012307:Risk Factors; D014463:Ultrasonography