Asymptomatic Extracranial Artery Stenosis and the Risk of Cardiovascular and Cerebrovascular Diseases.

Dandan Wang,Anxin Wang,Shouling Wu,Xin Li,Ruijun Ji,Jing Wang,Cheng Jin,Yong Zhou,Xiang Gao,Xingquan Zhao

doi:10.1038/srep33960

Abstract

Asymptomatic extracranial artery stenosis (ECAS) is a well-known risk factor for stroke events, but it remains unclear whether it has the same role in predicting cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, especially in China. We investigated the potential associations between ECAS, carotid plaque and carotid intima-media thickness and the new occurrence of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases in the study. Out of 5440 study participants, 364 showed an asymptomatic ECAS at baseline, and 185 had come up to the final vascular events (brain infarction, intracerebral hemorrhage, subarachnoid hemorrhage, coronary heart disease and death due to the vascular diseases). During the follow- up. ECAS, carotid plaque and its instability and increased CIMT have associated with vascular events significantly (P < 0.05). After adjusting relevant vascular risk factors, ECAS still has a strong relationship with the new occurrence of vascular events, especially the brain infarction (HR: 2.101; 95% CI: 1.027–4.298; P = 0.042). We observed a clear relationship between ECAS and the new occurrence of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease, especially the brain infarction event. Carotid plaque and its instability and increased CIMT have all relevant with the occurrence of vascular events. Our findings provide direct evidence for the importance of ECAS in vascular events occurrence.

Highlights

We observed significant associations between the occurrence of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases and extracranial artery stenosis (ECAS), carotid plaque and its instability and thicker Carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT) (P < 0.05, Table 2)
We found that extracranial artery stenosis (ECAS) had a higher cumulative incidence of cerebrovascular disease, brain infarction and death, after adjusting relevant vascular risk factors, the significant relationships still almost exist (P < 0.05, Table 3)
ECAS has a strong relationship with the new occurrence of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease, especially with the brain infarction event

Summary

Introduction

We observed significant associations between the occurrence of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases and ECAS, carotid plaque and its instability and thicker CIMT (P < 0.05, Table 2). To analysis the predictive value of ECAS in different cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, we separated the final events into several sub- groups. We found that ECAS had a higher cumulative incidence of cerebrovascular disease, brain infarction and death, after adjusting relevant vascular risk factors, the significant relationships still almost exist (P < 0.05, Table 3).

Results

Conclusion