Presence and severity of carotid and femoral atherosclerosis, in relation to the principal cardiovascular risk factors, have been non invasively evaluated using echodoppler in a sample of 457 subjects (average age 55.4 +/- 18.7 years) of the metropolitan area of Turin. Data of prevalence have been standardized for age and gender in order to obtain an estimate of prevalence representative of the city. In both districts, prevalence of lesions, echo structural characteristics of the plaques and related degree of stenosis have been considered. Results indicate a high prevalence of carotid and femoral atherosclerosis (38.5% and 39.4% respectively), and, particularly, of concomitant involvement of both districts (30%). Prevalence of the lesions and degree of stenosis rise with advancing age; nevertheless stenosis > 75% were not found among the oldest patients. Bifurcations were the most frequent site of lesion and the "hard" echo structure was the most commonly represented, especially in subjects over 45 years. After multiple logistic regression model both carotid and femoral atherosclerosis were strongly and independently associated with age, male sex, smoke of cigarette and plasma cholesterol concentration.