title: Habitual fish intake and clinically silent carotid atherosclerosis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Fish consumption is recommended as part of a healthy diet. However, there is a paucity of data concerning the relation between fish consumption and carotid atherosclerosis. We investigated the association between habitual fish consumption and asymptomatic carotid atherosclerosis, defined as the presence of plaques and/or increased intima-media thickness (≥ 0.90 mm), in non-diabetic participants.
  
  
  METHODS
  Nine hundred-sixty-one (range of age: 18-89 yrs; 37.1% males) adult participants without clinically known atherosclerotic disease were randomly recruited among the customers of a shopping mall in Palermo, Italy, and cross-sectionally investigated. Each participant answered a food frequency questionnaire and underwent high-resolution ultrasonographic evaluation of both carotid arteries. Routine laboratory blood measurements were obtained in a subsample of 507 participants.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Based on habitual fish consumption, participants were divided into three groups: non-consumers or consumers of less than 1 serving a week (24.0%), consumers of 1 serving a week (38.8%), and consumers of ≥ 2 servings a week (37.2%). Age-adjusted prevalence of carotid atherosclerosis (presence of plaques or intima media thickness ≥ 0.9 mm) was higher in the low fish consumption group (13.3%, 12.1% and 6.6%, respectively; P = 0.003). Multivariate analysis evidenced that carotid atherosclerosis was significantly associated with age (OR = 1.12; 95% CI = 1.09-1.14), hypertension on pharmacologic treatment (OR = 1.81; 95% CI = 1.16-2.82), and pulse pressure (OR = 1.03; 95% CI = 1.01-1.04), while consuming ≥2 servings of fish weekly was protective compared with the condition of consumption of <1 serving of fish weekly (OR = 0.46; 95% CI = 0.26-0.80).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  High habitual fish consumption seems to be associated with less carotid atherosclerosis, though adequate interventional trials are necessary to confirm the role of fish consumption in prevention of cardiovascular disease.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento Biomedico di Medicina Interna e Specialistica (DIBIMIS) - Laboratorio di Nutrizione Clinica, University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy. silbus@tin.it.
authors.forename: Silvio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Buscemi
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nicolucci
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lucisano
authors.forename: Fabio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Galvano
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Grosso
authors.forename: Serena
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Belmonte
authors.forename: Delia
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Sprini
authors.forename: Silvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Migliaccio
authors.forename: Luisella
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Cianferotti
authors.forename: Maria Luisa
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Brandi
authors.forename: Giovam Battista
authors.initials: GB
authors.lastname: Rini
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000818:Animals; D001794:Blood Pressure; D002339:Carotid Arteries / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D002340:Carotid Artery Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D059168:Carotid Intima-Media Thickness; D002784:Cholesterol / Q000097:blood; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004032:Diet; D038441:Diet, Mediterranean; D005260:Female; D005399:Fishes; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged
chemical_list: D002784:Cholesterol