An association between atherosclerosis in the carotid ultrasonography and a novel risk factor of cardio-vascular diseases

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

The relationships between plasma concentrations of homocysteine (Hcy), hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) or asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) and hypertension as well as carotid atherosclerosis were examined in a Japanese general population. In 1999, we conducted a health examination in 1,920 subjects, aged 40 years or older in a farming community, Tanushimaru, Japan. We measured conventional risk factors such as body mass index(BMI), blood pressure (BP), smoking status, total cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol, and glycosylated hemoglobin A_<1c>. Subjects underwent B-mode carotid ultrasonography to determine the carotid intimal-medial thickness (IMT). Of these subjects, Hcy, HGF, and ADMA levels were measured in 1,111 (452 men and 659 women), 1,474 (597 men and 877 women) and 712 (305 men and 407 women) cases, respectively. With multiple linear regression analysis after adjustments for age, sex, and creatinine levels, BMI (p<0.01), systolic and diastolic blood pressure (p<0.001), HDL-cholesterol(p<0.001, inversely), glycosylated hemoglobin A_<1c> (p<0.001), and Hcy levels (p<0.05) were significantly related to IMT. Although HGF was related to the severity of hypertension, the levels were not related to IMT. On the contrary, elevated levels of ADMA were a strong and independent determinant of IMT of the carotid artery. In addition to conventional risk factors such as hypertension and impaired glucose metabolism, Hcy is a novel risk factor for carotid atherosclerosis. And, we suggested that plasma ADMA was the strongest predictor for the progression of carotid IMT in a prospective study for 6 years with carotid ultrasonography.