[Intima-media thickness and its relation with the SCORE function in Spain]

Abstract

Background and objective: Measurement of carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) has been proposed for the evaluation of subclinical atherosclerosis as part of the cardiovascular prevention strategy. The objectives are to describe the association between IMT and the presence of other cardiovascular risk (CVR) factors and with CVR estimated by the SCORE function.

Subjects and methods: Descriptive study in general population through non-probability sampling. There were 1,118 participants to whom we estimated their cardiovascular risk according to the SCORE function. We selected 467 participants who underwent carotid echo-doppler in which IMT was determined and carotid plaque was evaluated.

Results: Of the 467 individuals, 24, 49 and 27% belonged to the CVR, medium and high respectively. The population mean IMT was 0.63745 mm. The mean IMT for the cardiovascular risk groups low, medium and high was 0.5629, 0.66269 and 0.66016 mm respectively. IMT increased with age and was associated with other cardiovascular risk factors. In 13% of carotid ultrasound performed, atherosclerotic plaques were found. The highest percentage of individuals with atherosclerotic plaques were seen in the intermediate and high CVR groups.

Conclusions: The results of this study show similar values of carotid IMT and presence of carotid plaque in subjects of intermediate and high CVR. We also found an association between increased carotid IMT and age, weight and diabetes.