Sex‐specific risk factors of carotid atherosclerosis progression in a high‐risk population of cardiovascular disease

Abstract

Background The progression of carotid intima‐media thickness (cIMT) and plaques are associated with cardiovascular health, especially for high‐risk population of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Hypothesis Risk factors for atherosclerosis may vary by sex. This study aimed to investigate the sex‐specific risk factors of cIMT and plaque progression. Methods We selected subjects who were identified as high‐risk population of CVD, and collected their carotid ultrasound data and baseline characteristics. Linear regression and logistic regression analyses were used to identify risk factors for cIMT and plaque progression. Sex‐specific risk factors were identified respectively. Results A total of 7908 participants were included. The mean age was 57.75 ± 9.45 years and 61.51% were female. During mean follow‐up of 1.92 ± 0.89 years, the median annual cIMT change rate was −7.25 μm/year. Seven hundred and fifteen subjects free from plaques at baseline developed plaque. Age, smoking, hypertension, and diabetes were common risk factors for carotid atherosclerosis progression in all participants. Smoking and alcohol drinking were significantly associated with increased cIMT change in women, while hypertension and antihypertensive medication were significant in men. Increased total cholesterol and diabetes were significantly associated with new plaque presence in women, while smoking, increased triglyceride, and dyslipidemia were significant in men ( p ˂ .05 for all cases). The association of baseline cIMT and smoking with annual cIMT change rate and increased total cholesterol with new plaque presence were significantly differentiated between both sexes ( p for interaction ˂ .05). Conclusions The risk factors for cIMT and plaque progression differed by sex.

Association between different obesity indices and carotid intima-media thickness in patients with type 2 diabetes assessed by a decision tree model and logistic regression: A cross-sectional study

“…Moreover, the results showed that diabetes duration, TC, HbA1c, and HDL-C were also associated with CIMT thickening. However, the decision tree model excluded traditional factors such as smoking, sex, and hypertension, which may not be consistent with the results of most other studies [19,20] .There are several possible explanations: First, the de nition of high CIMT was different. In this study, a cut-off of 1.0 mm was used, which was more in line with the characteristics of the Chinese population; Second, the study population, sample size, study type, and inclusion and exclusion criteria were varied between studies.…”

Why and How Should We Assess the Cardiovascular Risk in Patients with Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis? A Single-Centre Experience with Carotid Intima-Media Measurements

“…On the other hand, smoking and drinking alcohol affected cIMT in adult women but not in men who presented higher cIMT values when diagnosed with hypertension [ 47 ]. The laboratory test results from the study initially suggested the potential importance of the presence of HLA-B27, but eventually no significant association was found.…”