Abstract 3579: Prevalence And Distribution Of Asymptomatic Cervicocephalic Atherosclerosis In A Caucasian Population: Risk Factors And Biomarkers

Objective: To study clinical and biological factors associated with the different cervicocephalic location of atherosclerosis in Caucasian stroke-free individuals. Methods: Carotid and intracranial atherosclerosis were assessed in the same lab by ECO-Doppler in a random sample population of 933 Caucasian subjects older than 50, with a moderate-high vascular risk and without history of stroke (64% males, mean age 66 years). Hypertension, dyslipemia, diabetes and smoking habit were defined based on clinical history and/or current medications. The following inflammatory and endothelial dysfunction biomarkers were determined at baseline and considered as continuous variables for the analyses: C-reactive protein (CRP), plasminogen activator inhibitor (PAI-1), resistin and asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA). Results: Subjects were classified according to the cervicocephalic location of atherosclerotic lesions: 449 (48.1%) had no lesions (reference group), 404 (43.3%) had isolated carotid extracranial lesions (EC), 57 (6.1%) had isolated intracranial lesions (IC) and 23 (2.5%) had combined extra-intracranial lesions (C). After multinomial regression analyses, factors independently associated with each location of atherosclerosis compared to the reference group were: with EC, age (OR 1.06[1.04-1.09]p Conclusions: Our findings show distinct clinical and biological signatures of the cervico-cephalic location of subclinical atherosclerosis.