CEREBROVASCULAR RISK-FACTORS IN AN ELDERLY AUSTRIAN POPULATION - 1ST YEAR RESULTS OF THE AUSTRIAN-STROKE-PREVENTION-STUDY (ASPS)

During the first year the Austrian Stroke Prevention Study enrolled 59 9 volunteers without clinical signs or symptoms of cerebrovascular dis ease aged 50 to 70 years. Study participants were randomly selected, f rom the official register of the city of Graz. The rate of positive re sponse was 26.9 per cent. All subjects underwent an extensive risk fac tor screening with Duplex scanning of the carotid arteries obtained fr om a subset of 176 individuals. The prevalence of well-documented cere brovascular risk factors was 40.6% for arterial hypertension, 35.4% fo r cardiac disease, 8.5% for diabetes mellitus und 3% for elevated haem atocrit. The less well-documented cerebrovascular risk factors dyslipi demia, overweight, physical inactivity, hyperfibrinogenemia and smokin g were noted in 75%, 33.7%, 27.2%, 14.9% and 12.2% of subjects, respec tively. Multiple well-documented risk factors were noted in 23.7% of t he examined volunteers. Multiple linear regression analysis revealed b ody mass index (p < 0.0001) and age (p < 0.0001) as independent predic tors of the frequency of well-documented risk factors observed in any individual. Atherosclerotic carotid disease occurred in 61.9% of study participants investigated by Doppler sonography and was significantly associated with age (p < 0.00001), life-time tobacco consumption (p < 0.0001) and the concentration of apolipoprotein B (p < 0.05). This st udy demonstrates high prevalence rates of vascular risk factors in an elderly Austrian community. Implications for stroke prevention result from the conjunction of overweight and frequency of risk factors noted in any study participant, as well as from the relationship of carotid atherosclerosis to smoking and dyslipidemia.