Prehypertension is associated with increased carotid atherosclerotic plaque in the community population of Southern China

Abstract

BackgroundThe proceeding of blood pressure (BP) from normal level to the hypertension has been found to be associated with increased cardiovascular events and multiple vascular risk factors. However, whether the process is associated with increased carotid atherosclerotic plaque per se or not is still unclear.MethodsNine hundred and forty-two participants aged from 46 to 75 were enrolled from community population in Southern China. Their metabolic risk factors, carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT) and atherosclerotic plaque formation were analyzed and stratified by different blood pressure levels according to JNC-7 or ESH/ESC-2007 classification.ResultsFrom low BP level to higher BP level, multiple metabolic risk factors increased linearly. Prehypertension in JNC-7 classification (or normal BP and high normal BP in ESH/ESC-2007 classification) was correlated with thicker cIMT and more plaque formation than normotension (or optimal BP) (p < 0.001). After adjusting multiple metabolic factors, the differences were still significant (p < 0.05). Furthermore, prehypertensive participants had a trend to be thicker carotid IMT (OR and its 95% CI: 1.65, 0.97-2.82, p = 0.067) and significantly higher carotid plaque occurrence (OR and its 95% CI: 2.36, 1.43-3.88, p = 0.001) than normotensive ones. However, there was no significant difference of cIMT and plaque formation between normal BP and high normal BP (p > 0.05). Plaque formation in prehypertension was as significant as that in hypertension.ConclusionPrehypertension is associated with significantly increased carotid atherosclerotic plaque and is a primary stratify risk factor for carotid atherosclerosis which could cause ischemic stroke in middle-aged and elderly population in Southern China.

Carotid Atherosclerosis Detected by Ultrasonography: A National Cross‐Sectional Study

“…To compare our results with previous studies, we searched PubMed to identify population‐based studies that reported the prevalence of CA detected by ultrasound in China, and summarized findings are shown in Table 4. Of these previous studies,16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26 only the CKB (China Kadoorie Biobank) study included a large sample of participants (N=24 822) from multiple geographic regions in China16; all other studies were geographically local. The CKB study reported that the overall prevalence of carotid plaque was 31%, which was much higher than the prevalence of 13.9% in the present study; however, the CKB study included participants with stroke (5.4%) or coronary heart disease (7.5%).…”

Correlation of Pre-Hypertension with Carotid Artery Damage in Middle-Aged and Older Adults

“…Hypertension, a chronic disease with a high prevalence not only in Asia but also worldwide [ 14 ], is closely associated with metabolic risk factors such as obesity, insulin resistance, and abnormal lipid profiles in adults [ 15 , 16 ]. In addition, pre-hypertension has a high prevalence in Asia [ 17 , 18 ].…”

“…Although the relationship between structural alterations of carotid artery and the development of CVD has drawn interests, only two studies examined the association between the carotid artery and pre-hypertension [ 15 , 23 ]. Furthermore, the previous two studies showed different results in terms of the relationship between prehypertension status and IMT.…”

A Unified Sparse Representation for Sequence Variant Identification for Complex Traits

“…For example, FMO1 (p=9.81e-5) is a risk gene of cardiovascular disease [Mendelsohn and Larrick 2013], which is usually associated with hypertension. Another susceptible gene is AGBL1 (p=8.16e-4), which is associated with carotid plaque [Dong, et al 2012], and prehypertension is associated with significantly increased carotid atherosclerotic plaque [Hong, et al 2013]. We also report long-term depression pathway (p=4.21e-6) as a significant pathway.…”