Carotid intima media thickness and cardiometabolic risk associates in Turkish adults

Objective Carotid intima media thickness (CIMT) is a strong predictor of future vascular events. However, data for Turkish individuals are limited and the association between cardiometabolic risk factors and CIMT has not been studied before. Therefore, we sought to investigate the CIMT and cardiometabolic risk associates in a large cohort of Turkish adults. Methods and results The study was conducted on 2230 participants (1427 women, 803 men with a mean age of 49). The participants underwent a Doppler Ultrasound examination of CIMT. Mean CIMT was 0.61 +/- 0.19 mm. Age- and sex-adjusted partial correlation analysis revealed that only systolic blood pressure and smoking amount was significantly correlated with CIMT. Receiver operator characteristics (ROC) calculations showed that age had the best area under the curve (AUC =0.84), smoking had the best sensitivity (86%) and diastolic blood pressure (>88 mmHg) had the best specificity (74%) in predicting a person with thickened carotid intima media (>0.8 mm). Independent predictors of thickened carotid intima media were hypertension [(odds ratio (OR) = 2.74; 95% confidence interval (Cl) = 1.663-4.53; P value <= 0.001)], systolic blood pressure [OR= 1.01; 95% Cl = 1.002-1.022; P value = 0.022] and age [OR= 1.11; 95% Cl = 1.079-1.136; P value <= 0.001). Conclusion Age, systolic blood pressure and smoking amount (pack/year) were the only age- and sex-adjusted associates of CIMT. Age had the best AUC in ROC analysis predicting thickened carotid artery intima media. Hypertension, systolic blood pressure and age were independent predictors of high CIMT in Turkish adults.