Evaluation of coronary artery disease and other risk factors in patients with abdominal aortic aneurysm

Background: This study aims to investigate the relationship between abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) and coronary artery disease (CAD) along with other risk factors. Methods: One hundred sixty-three patients with AAA (145 males, 18 females; mean age 64.4+/-8.9 years; range 39 to 88 years) who underwent surgery in our clinic between January 1998 and December 2008 were included in the study, and the patient records provided by the hospital were retrospectively assessed. Results: The most common accompanying risk factors were hypertension (79.8%), smoking (70.6%), CAD (50.3%) chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) (36.8%), a high serum urea level (9.2%), and peripheral artery disease (2.5%). Patients were grouped according to the presence of CAD and then compared in terms of risk factors. When groups were compared in terms of age, symptoms, length and diameter of the aneurysm, hypertension, COPD, serum urea level, duration of intensive care unit stay, time to discharge, and complications, no significant differences were observed between the groups. However, the number of cigarette smokers in the CAD group was significantly higher than those in the non-CAD group. The coronary artery bypass graft procedure was mostly performed in patients with higher aneurysm diameters in the CAD group. Conclusion: In the evaluating the correlation between aortic aneurysm and CAD, along with the other risk factors, smoking was found to be significantly higher in patients with CAD among the AAA patients. The coronary artery bypass graft procedure was found to be more necessary for the patient group with higher aneurysm diameters.