Association between abdominal aortic atherosclerosis and carotid artery atherosclerosis: A prospective cross-sectional study

Abstract

Atherosclerosis is a prevalent systemic disease, responsible for the greatest number of deaths in developed countries. Clinical events and appropriate treatment depend on the sites involved. Both aortic and carotid atherosclerotic disease may result in grave clinical outcomes; however, the association between these two entities has not been clearly demonstrated yet. We developed a study to look at the association between Abdominal aortic Atherosclerotic Plaque (AAP) and Carotid artery Atherosclerotic Plaque (CAP). A prospective cross-sectional study was performed from March 2011 to April 2012. Consecutive patients who underwent total abdominal Computed Tomography (CT) for several reasons and Ultrasonography (US) of the carotid arteries were included. The independent association between the incidental finding of both AAP and CAP was sought using uni and multivariate analyses. One hundred and eighteen patients were evaluated. AAP was present in 53/118 (44.9%) patients and CAP in 69/118 (58.4%). After performing adjustment by multiple logistic regression with covariables such as sex, smoking, diet, abdominal circumference, Systemic Arterial Hypertension (SAH), diabetes and history of ischemic stroke, we observed that AAP and SAH were associated with CAP, with an OR of 10.75 (CI: 3.95-29.3 and p=0.0001) and 5.65 (CI: 2.06-12.5 and p=0.001), respectively. The presence of AAP at CT scan is strongly associated with CAP at US. In the future, such incidental finding at routine abdominal CT may probably recommend carotid US performance. SAH is also strongly associated with the presence of CAP.

Keywords

• Abdominal aorta, carotid artery, atherosclerosis, computed tomography

Association between abdominal aortic atherosclerosis and carotid artery atherosclerosis: A prospective cross-sectional study

Abstract

Ateroskleroz gelşmiş ülkelerde ölümlerin büyük çoğunluğundan sorumlu olan yaydın görülen sistemik bir hastalıktır. Klinik olaylar ve uygun tedavi tutulumun olduğu bölgeye göre değişir. Hem aortik hemde karotis aterosklerotik hastalığı ciddi sonuçlara yolaçabilir, bununla birlikte bu iki klinik antite arasındaki ilişki henüz net olarak gösterilmemiştir. Biz abdominal aortik aterosklerotik plak (AAP) ile karotis arter aterosklerotik plağı (CAP) arasındaki ilişkiyi gösterme amaçlı bir çalışma planladık. Mart 2011 den Nisan 2012 ye kadar süren prospektif kesitsel bir çalışma planladık. Çeşitli nedenlerle abdominal komputerize tomografi ve carotis arter ultrasonografisi yapılmış ardışık hastalar çalışmaya dahil edildi. AAP ve CAP arasındaki bağımsız ilişki univariate ve multivariate analizler ile araştırıldı.118 hasta değerlendirildi. AAP 53/118 (44.9%) hastada ve CAP 69/118 (58.4%) hastada mevcuttu. Cinsiyet, sigara içimi, diyet, abdomen çevresi, sistemik arteryel hipertansiyon (SAH), diyabet ve iskemik inme öyküsü gibi değişkenler için multiple logistic regresyon analizi ile düzeltme yapıldığında we AAP ve SAH CAP ile ilişkili bulundu (sırasıyla OR 10.75 (CI: 3.95-29.3 and p=0.0001) ve 5.65 (CI: 2.06-12.5 ve p=0.001). CT incelemesindeki AAP ile ultrasonda görülen CAP kuvvetli ilişki gösteriyordu. Gelecekte rutin abdominal CT de görülen böyle tesadüfi bulgular karotis arter ultasonu ile karotis plağına bakma açısından yönlendirici olabilir. SAH da CAP varlığı ile kuvvetli ilişki gösteriyordu

Keywords

• Abdominal aorta, karotis arter, ateroskleroz, komputerize tomografi

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