title: Carotid intima-media thickness is not related with clinical outcomes in young hypertensives.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Careful observations of long- and short-term outcomes associated with carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) are relatively limited.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 2,972 patients (male:female = 1,960:1,012; mean age = 62 ± 12 years) who underwent carotid IMT measurements from September 2003 to March 2009 were divided into four groups. Group I (n = 271; mean age, 42 ± 7.8 years) included normotensive younger subjects (males, <45 years and females <55 years), group II (n = 992; mean age, 63 ± 9 years) included normotensive elderly subjects, group III (n = 177; mean age, 46 ± 7.8 years) was hypertensive younger subjects, and group IV (n = 1,532; mean age, 63 ± 10.2 years) was hypertensive elderly subjects. We analyzed the clinical and cardiovascular events in the younger hypertensive subjects based on IMT measurements.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The baseline characteristics of the subjects showed that carotid IMT increased in the elderly subjects and in patients with hypertension. Poor clinical outcomes, such as all-cause death and major adverse cardiac events, were related with age, not with hypertension. Among the conventional risk factors, age and the highest quartile level of right maximum carotid IMT were related with major adverse events (young: odds ratio [OR], 0.47; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.25 to 0.9 vs. OR, 1.73; 95% CI, 1.20 to 2.49). The patients in the highest quartile of carotid IMT had worse survival outcomes than those with the lowest IMT (p = 0.03).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Subjects with hypertension had increased carotid IMT levels. Controlling hypertension and carefully evaluating carotid IMT are important to prevent cardiovascular events even in younger subjects with hypertension.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Yuksamro 10, Seoul, 150-713 South Korea.
authors.forename: Jin-Sok
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Yuksamro 10, Seoul, 150-713 South Korea.
authors.forename: Yun-Seok
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Yuksamro 10, Seoul, 150-713 South Korea.
authors.forename: Ju-Youn
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Yuksamro 10, Seoul, 150-713 South Korea.
authors.forename: Ji-Hee
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Yuksamro 10, Seoul, 150-713 South Korea.
authors.forename: Woo-Baek
authors.initials: WB
authors.lastname: Chung
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Yuksamro 10, Seoul, 150-713 South Korea.
authors.forename: Chul-Soo
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Yuksamro 10, Seoul, 150-713 South Korea.
authors.forename: Yong-Seog
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Oh
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Yuksamro 10, Seoul, 150-713 South Korea.
authors.forename: Ho-Joong
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Youn
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Yuksamro 10, Seoul, 150-713 South Korea.
authors.forename: Wook-Sung
authors.initials: WS
authors.lastname: Chung
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Yuksamro 10, Seoul, 150-713 South Korea.
authors.forename: Man-Young
authors.initials: MY
authors.lastname: Lee
keywords: Carotid intima-media thickness; Hypertension