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(Stroke. 2006;37:2702.)
© 2006 American Heart Association, Inc.

Original Contributions

Parental Longevity, Carotid Atherosclerosis, and Aortic Arterial Stiffness in Adult Offspring

Mahmoud Zureik, MD, PhD; Sébastien Czernichow, MD, MPH; Dominique Courbon, MS; Jacques Blacher, MD, PhD; Pierre Ducimetière, PhD; Serge Hercberg, MD, PhD; Michel E. Safar, MD Pilar Galan, MD, PhD

From the National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM), Unit 744 (M.Z., D.C.); Unit 557 INSERM/INRA/CNAM (S.C., S.H., P.G.); Hôtel Dieu Hospital (S.C., J.B., M.E.S.); and Unit 258 INSERM (J.B., P.D.), Lille, France.

Correspondence to Mahmoud Zureik, MD, PhD, INSERM U508, Institut Pasteur de Lille, 1 rue Calmette, BP 245, 59019 Lille cedex, France. E-mail mahmoud.zureik{at}pasteur-lille.fr

Background and Purpose— We examined the associations of parental longevity with carotid intima-media thickness, carotid plaques, and aortic arterial stiffness in adult offspring.

Methods— A population of 1117 volunteers who participated in the SUVIMAX Vascular Study (mean age, 59.7 years; 49.0% women) were included. Carotid-femoral pulse-wave velocity (PWV) was used to assess aortic stiffness. Carotid B-mode ultrasound examination included measurements (at sites free of plaque) of intima-media thickness at the common carotid arteries and assessment of atherosclerotic plaques in the extracranial carotid arteries.

Results— The prevalence of carotid plaques in subjects whose fathers had died at <65 years, in those whose fathers were alive at 65 years but who had died by 80 years, and in those whose fathers were alive at 80 years was 40.4%, 30.4%, and 28.9%, respectively (P<0.001). The multivariate odds ratios of carotid plaques in the 3 groups of paternal longevity, adjusted for conventional cardiovascular risk factors, were 1, 0.68 (95% CI, 0.48 to 0.96), and 0.69 (95% CI, 0.49 to 0.98), respectively. The mean common carotid arteries intima-media thickness was higher in subjects with premature paternal death in univariate (P<0.007) but not in multivariate (P=0.39) analyses. Mean PWV decreased with increasing paternal longevity in both univariate and multivariate analyses. The multivariate-adjusted means of PWV in the 3 groups of paternal longevity were 11.9±0.14, 11.7±0.12, and 11.0±0.12 m/s (P<0.0001), respectively. In contrast, neither B-mode ultrasound measurements nor PWV measurements were associated with maternal longevity.

Conclusion— These results may indicate that there are modifications of structure and function of large arteries according to paternal longevity.

Key Words: arterial stiffness • atherosclerosis • carotid intimal-medial thickness • epidemiology • parental longevity

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