Published Online
on February 1, 2007

A more recent version of this article appeared on March 1, 2007

This Article Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: 38/3/900    most recent 01.STR.0000258003.31194.0av1 Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Request Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Johnson, H. M. Articles by Stein, J. H. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Johnson, H. M. Articles by Stein, J. H. Related Collections Risk Factors Other arteriosclerosis Doppler ultrasound, Transcranial Doppler etc. Epidemiology

Submitted on June 15, 2006
Revised on September 14, 2006
Accepted on October 6, 2006

Predictors of Carotid Intima-Media Thickness Progression in Young Adults. The Bogalusa Heart Study

Heather M. Johnson MD; Pamela S. Douglas MD; Sathanur R. Srinivasan PhD; M. Gene Bond PhD; Rong Tang MD, MS; Shengxu Li MD, MPH; Wei Chen MD, PhD; Gerald S. Berenson MD; and James H. Stein MD^*

From the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine (H.M.J., J.H.S.), University of Wisconsin Medical School, Madison; the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine (P.S.D.), Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC; the Tulane Center for Cardiovascular Health and the Department of Epidemiology (S.R.S., S.L., W.C., G.S.B.), Tulane University Health Sciences Center, New Orleans, La; and the Division of Vascular Ultrasound Research (M.G.B., R.T.), Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC.

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: jhs{at}medicine.wisc.edu.

Background and Purpose--We sought to evaluate the predictors of carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT) progression in young adults and to determine whether they differed between the sexes. Although risk factors for the progression of atherosclerosis in middle-aged and elderly adults are well known, they are less well understood in young adults. CIMT is a validated measure of subclinical atherosclerosis.

Methods--B-mode ultrasound images of the far walls of both carotid arteries were obtained in 336 young adults in the Bogalusa Heart Study, whose mean±SD age was 32.3±3.0 years. CIMT and risk factors were measured at baseline (1995-1996) and after 5.8±0.6 years. Multivariable regression was used to determine the predictors of CIMT progression.

Results--CIMT progression rates in women (0.015±0.024 mm/y) and men (0.020±0.027 mm/y) were not statistically different after controlling for body mass index (P=0.155). Smoking was a statistically significant predictor of common and composite CIMT progression in both sexes. In men, systolic blood pressure was an independent predictor of internal carotid and composite CIMT progression, fasting glucose predicted common CIMT progression, and family history predicted composite CIMT progression.

Conclusions--In young adults, smoking was a consistent predictor of short-term CIMT progression in men and women. Traditional risk factors also predicted CIMT progression in men.

Key words: aging • atherosclerosis • cardiovascular diseases • carotid arteries • smoking

This article has been cited by other articles:

				J. Koskinen, M. Kahonen, J. S.A. Viikari, L. Taittonen, T. Laitinen, T. Ronnemaa, T. Lehtimaki, N. Hutri-Kahonen, M. Pietikainen, E. Jokinen, et al. Conventional Cardiovascular Risk Factors and Metabolic Syndrome in Predicting Carotid Intima-Media Thickness Progression in Young Adults: The Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study Circulation, July 21, 2009; 120(3): 229 - 236. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				M. J. Pletcher, K. Bibbins-Domingo, C. E. Lewis, G. S. Wei, S. Sidney, J. J. Carr, E. Vittinghoff, C. E. McCulloch, and S. B. Hulley Prehypertension during Young Adulthood and Coronary Calcium Later in Life Ann Intern Med, July 15, 2008; 149(2): 91 - 99. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				J. Gonzalez, J. C. Wood, F. J. Dorey, T. A. L. Wren, and V. Gilsanz Reproducibility of Carotid Intima-Media Thickness Measurements in Young Adults Radiology, May 1, 2008; 247(2): 465 - 471. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]