SEX AND TOPOGRAPHIC DIFFERENCES IN ASSOCIATIONS BETWEEN LARGE-ARTERY WALL THICKNESS AND CORONARY RISK PROFILE IN A FRENCH WORKING COHORT - THE AXA STUDY
J. Gariepy et al., SEX AND TOPOGRAPHIC DIFFERENCES IN ASSOCIATIONS BETWEEN LARGE-ARTERY WALL THICKNESS AND CORONARY RISK PROFILE IN A FRENCH WORKING COHORT - THE AXA STUDY, Arteriosclerosis, thrombosis, and vascular biology, 18(4), 1998, pp. 584-590
Previous reports have investigated associations between carotid intima
-media thickness (IMT) and cardiovascular risk factors. Our objective
was to investigate this question in greater depth by measuring both fe
moral and carotid IMT in relation to sex and multifactorial coronary r
isk, We investigated carotid and femoral artery IMT by using ultrasono
graphy in 326 men and 462 women, 17 to 65 years old. We also evaluated
body mass index, blood pressure, blood lipids, glucose, smoking, and
Framingham coronary risk. In both vessels, IMT was lower in women than
in men. Significant relations between carotid and femoral IMT existed
with age and most risk factors in both sexes. After adjustment for ag
e, carotid IMT was related to risk factors in both sexes except for di
astolic blood pressure, HDL cholesterol, and smoking in women, whereas
femoral IMT was related to triglycerides and smoking in both sexes, s
ystolic blood pressure and blood glucose in men, and total and HDL cho
lesterol in women. Significant unadjusted and age-adjusted relations o
f Framingham risk existed with carotid and femoral IMT in both sexes,
but slopes of these relations were greater (1) before than after age a
djustment, (2) in men than in women at both sites, except the femoral
artery after age adjustment, and (3) at the carotid than at the femora
l site in both sexes before age adjustment. Carotid IMT in men appears
to be a more powerful predictor than it is in women and femoral IMT i
n both sexes in reflecting multifactorial coronary risk burden, but th
ese differences are partly conditional on age.