ULTRASONOGRAPHIC MANIFESTATIONS OF COMMON CAROTID ATHEROSCLEROSIS IN ELDERLY EASTERN FINNISH MEN - PREVALENCE AND ASSOCIATIONS WITH CARDIOVASCULAR-DISEASES AND RISK-FACTORS

We investigated the prevalence and associations with cardiovascular sy mptoms, signs, and risk factors of common carotid atherosclerosis usin g B-mode ultrasonography in a population sample of 182 eastern Finnish men aged 70 to 89 years. Men were examined in 1989 as a part of the 3 0-year follow-up examination of the eastern Finnish cohort of the Seve n Countries Study. The mean maximal intima-media thickness (IMT) of th e right and left common carotid arteries was 1.5 mm (range, 0.7 to 5.3 mm; standard deviation, 0.7 mm). Fifty-one percent of the subjects ha d nonmineralized atheroma and 91% had single or multiple mineralizatio ns in any of the arterial segments imaged. Both mean maximal IMT and n onmineralized atheromas were associated significantly (P < .05) with t he presence of cerebral atherosclerosis, carotid murmur, at least one nonpalpable peripheral arterial pulse, ischemic resting electrocardiog raphic abnormalities, and history of coronary heart disease but not wi th intermittent claudication at the 30-year follow-up. No significant associations were found between carotid mineralizations and clinical c ardiovascular disease. Long-term elevations of serum cholesterol and l ong-term smoking, measured as the number of risk factor elevations in the six examinations, were associated with the presence of nonminerali zed atheroma in the elderly (in 1989). Smoking and repeatedly detected hypertension, on the other hand, had an association with the presence of mineralizations in 1989.