Analysis of risk factors for carotid artery plaque in asymptomatic adults

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the risk factors affecting the presence of carotid plaque in asymptomatic adults.

Methods: Asymptomatic adults (age > 40 years, no symptoms of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases) undergoing routine health examinations from physical examination department were included in this study. Carotid plaque was measured by Resona 7OB and Resona 8EXP color Doppler ultrasound and L9-3U and L4-5WU probes. The focal carotid intima-media thickness was greater than 1.1 mm, and the local protrusion of the artery wall into the artery lumen suggested the presence of carotid atherosclerotic plaque. According to their ultrasound results, 1077 asymptomatic adults were divided into a group with carotid plaque (477) and a group without carotid plaque (600).

Results: A total of 1077 asymptomatic adults were included in this study, of whom 44.3% had carotid plaque. The proportion of men with carotid plaque was 84.5%. Multifactorial logistic analysis suggested that age, fasting blood glucose (FBG), total cholesterol (TC), homocysteine (Hcy) and male gender were risk factors for carotid atherosclerosis. The predictive probability of these risk factor indicators derived from the multifactorial model was calculated using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves with SPSS 25.0 software. The calculated area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) was 0.715 (95% CI, 0.685-0.746).

Conclusion: Age, FBG, TC, Hcy and male gender are risk factors for carotid atherosclerosis in asymptomatic adults. Gender differences in carotid atherosclerosis deserve further attention.

Keywords: Asymptomatic adults; Carotid arteriosclerosis; Risk factors.

Fig. 1

ROC curve for predicting carotid plaque in asymptomatic adults. AUC = 0.715