Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #103439

Timir Paul, MD, MPH¹, Sathanur Srinivasan, PhD¹, Wei Chen, MD, PhD¹, Azad Bhuiyan, MD, MPH¹, M. Gene Bond, PhD², Rong Tang, MD, MS², and Gerald Berenson, MD¹. (1) Tulane Center for Cardiovascular Health, Tulane University, 1440 canal St, Suite 1829, New Orleans, LA 70112, 504-988-7197, tpaul@tulane.edu, (2) Vascular Ultrasound Research, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, 2000 West First Street, Winston-Salem, NC 27104

Femoral artery intima-media thickness (IMT), like carotid IMT, is a surrogate indicator of atherosclerotic coronary and peripheral vascular diseases in middle-aged and older adults. This study examined the cardiovascular (CV) disease risk profile of asymptomatic young adults with increased femoral artery IMT. Femoral artery IMT was measured by B-mode ultrasonography in 1080 subjects (aged 24-43 years; 71% white, 43% male) enrolled in the Bogalusa Heart Study. Individuals in the top (n=54) versus bottom 5th (n= 54) percentiles distribution of femoral IMT were compared for traditional CV risk factors profile. The top and bottom 5th percentiles of IMT differed with respect to age (p<0.001), systolic blood pressure (p<0.05), diastolic blood pressure (p<0.05), total cholesterol (p<0.01), LDL cholesterol (p<0.001), non-HDL cholesterol (p<0.01) and smoking status ( p<0.01). In terms of prevalence of clinically defined traditional risk factors, individuals at the top vs bottom 5th percentile of IMT distribution had significantly higher prevalence of high LDL cholesterol(>=130 mg/dL), non-HDL cholesterol (>=160 mg/dL), and cigarette smoking. Further, these individuals tended to be obese (1.3 fold), hypertensive (2.2 fold), hyperglycemic (2.0 fold), and had an abnormal ECG (1.5 fold). The odds ratio for individuals with 3 or more risk factors vs no risk factors having IMT in the top 5th percentile was 4.7 (p = 0.01). The observed adverse effect of CV risk factors on IMT of the femoral artery, a surrogate measure of coronary and peripheral atherosclerosis in asymptomatic young individuals, underscores the need for risk factors profiling in early life.

Learning Objectives:

• This is a community based cross-sectional and longitudinal long term epidemiologic study. This study emphasize the preventive aspect of cardiovascular disease risk factors in early life. Subjects with thickest versus thinnest intima media thickness displayed significantly higher prevalence of multiple cardiovascular risk factors. The burden of cardiovascular risk factors on the femoral artery intima-media thickness, a surrogate measure of coronary and peripheral atherosclerosis in asymptomatic young individuals, underscores the need for risk factors profiling in early life.

Keywords: Risk Factors,

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.