To evaluate the consistency, strength, and independence of the relation of carotid atherosclerosis to coronary atherosclerosis, we quantified coronary artery disease risk factors and extent of carotid atherosclerosis (B-mode score) in 343 coronary artery disease patients and 167 disease-free control patients. In univariable analyses, there was a strong association between coronary status and extent of carotid artery disease in men and women older than and younger than 50 years (p<0.001 for men and women >50 years,p<0.001 for women <50 years,p=0.045 for men <50). The relation remained strong after control for age in men and women older than 50 years and in women younger than 50 (p<0.001 for men and women >50 years,p=0.003 for women <50) but did not persist after control for age in men younger than 50. Logistic models that included coronary disease risk factors, with or without B-mode score, as independent variables and presence or absence of coronary disease as the outcome variable indicated that the extent of carotid atherosclerosis was a strong, statistically significant independent variable in models for men and women older than 50 years of age. Next, we examined the usefulness of B-mode score as an aid in screening for coronary artery disease in men and women older than 50 years. Classification rules, both including and excluding B-mode score, were developed based on logistic regression and, for comparison, recursive partitioning (decision trees). The performance of these rules and the bias of their performance statistics were estimated. The improved classification of the study sample when B-mode score was incorporated in the rule was statistically significant only for men (p =0.015). However, the addition of B-mode score was found to 1) increase the median discrimination score for both sex groups based on the logistic model, and 2) yield better sensitivities and specificities for rules based on recursive partitioning. Thus B-mode score is strongly, consistently, and independently associated with coronary artery disease in patients older than 50 and is at least as useful as well-known risk factors for identifying patients with coronary artery disease. (Circulation 1990;82:1230-1242

We related risk factors, cardiovascular symptoms, and coronary status to the extent of extracranial carotid atherosclerosis as measured by B-mode ultrasonography in 376 volunteers hospitalized for elective coronary angiography. In a first analysis, we correlated risk factors and cardiovascular symptoms with carotid atherosclerosis. Univariate analysis showed that relations between many continuous risk factors and carotid atherosclerosis were graded and consistent for men and women. Multivariate analysis identified 6 significant variables (age, hypertension, pack-years smoked, and inversely, plasma concentrations of high density lipoprotein cholesterol and uric acid, and Framingham Type A score) that together accounted for 35% of the variability in extent of carotid atherosclerosis. In a second multivariate analysis, addition of coronary status (presence or absence of coronary stenosis as evaluated by coronary angiography) to the roster of candidate independent variables produced a new equation that accounted for an additional 5% of the variability in carotid atherosclerosis extent. Although much of the variability in extent of carotid atherosclerosis remains unexplained, these data define an association between coronary and carotid atherosclerosis that depends partly on shared exposure of both arteries to the same risk factors. They are also consistent with the concept that as yet undiscovered risk factors and/or genetic (e.g., arterial wall) factors common to both arterial beds also contribute to the relation between coronary and carotid atherosclerosis in human beings. (Stroke 1987; 18:990-996) T he relation between extracranial carotid atherosclerosis and transient ischemic attacks (TIAs) and cerebral infarction is similar to that between coronary atherosclerosis and angina pectoris, myocardial infarction, and sudden death. The extent to which investigators express interest in risk factors for coronary atherosclerosis is reflected by 200 citations referenced in a 1983 review.1 In contrast, relatively few publications have related risk factors to atherosclerosis of the intracranial and/or extracranial arterial system. 2~23 Approximately one third of these are autopsy studies, 18 " 23 and the remaining two thirds are studies of living people.In all studies, age is the most important risk factor for carotid atherosclerosis; sex may also be important.