An echolucent carotid artery intima-media is a new and independent predictor of mortality

In this thesis the common carotid artery intima media thickness in nearly 500 elderly men is independently associated with insulin sensitivity, measured by the gold standard hyperinsulinemic euglycemic clamp test (paper 1), to both COX- and cytokine mediated inflammation independently of other markers of inflammation, oxidative stress and antioxidant status (paper 2) and also to the alleles of the apolipoprotein gene independently of lipid levels and cardiovascular risk factors (paper 3). The echogenicity of the carotid intima-media complex measured as grey scale median predicts mortality independently of common carotid artery intima-media thickness, prior cardiovascular disease and cardiovascular risk factors (paper 4).