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Association of carotid wall layers with atherosclerotic plaques and cardiac hypertrophy in hypertensive subjects

Journal of Human Hypertension volume 36, pages 732–737 (2022)Cite this article

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Abstract

Carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT) is considered a marker of subclinical atherosclerosis and is related to target-organ damage in hypertensive patients. However, increased cIMT may be due to increases in the thickness of intima (cIT) and media (cMT) layers. This study evaluated whether cIMT layers (cIT and cMT) had a greater association with carotid atherosclerotic plaques and left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) than cIMT in hypertensive subjects. We cross-sectionally evaluated clinical, carotid, and echocardiography characteristics of 186 hypertensive patients followed at an outpatient clinic. High-resolution images of common carotid arteries were obtained by ultrasonography equipped with 10-MHz transducers, and cIT, cMT, and cIMT were manually measured using an image-processing software. Among all participants (n = 186; age = 60.8 ± 10.9 years, 43% males), there were 58% with carotid plaques and 58% with LVH. Mean cIT, cMT, and cIMT values were 0.267 ± 0.060, 0.475 ± 0.107, and 0.742 ± 0.142 mm, respectively. In logistic regression analysis adjusted for relevant covariates, carotid plaques showed stronger association with cIT than with cMT and cIMT. Furthermore, cIT showed greater area under the ROC curve (0.92; 95% CI 0.87−0.96) than cIMT (0.79; 95% CI 0.72−0.85) and cMT (0.64; 95% CI 0.56−0.72) to identify plaques. Conversely, cIT, cMT, and cIMT had modest association and accuracy to identify LVH (area under the ROC curve = 0.61, 0.57, and 0.60, respectively). In conclusion, cIT is a more accurate marker of atherosclerosis than cMT or cIMT, while cIT and cMT provide no incremental value in identifying LVH when compared with cIMT among hypertensive subjects.

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Fig. 1: Carotid wall layers.
Fig. 2: Relationship between carotid plaques and wall layers.
Fig. 3: Relationship between left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) and carotid wall layers.

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Funding

The study was supported by the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq; grant 306154/2017-0) and São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP 2013/07607-8) for Dr. Nadruz.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medical Sciences, State University of Campinas, Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil

    Luís F.R.S. Carvalho-Romano, Rafael P. Bonafé, Layde R. Paim, Edmilson R. Marques, Camila F. L. Vegian, José A. Pio-Magalhães, Daniel S. S. Mello, Guilherme de Rossi, Otavio R. Coelho-Filho, Roberto Schreiber, Andrei C. Sposito, José R. Matos-Souza & Wilson Nadruz Jr

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  1. Luís F.R.S. Carvalho-Romano
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Correspondence to Wilson Nadruz Jr.

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Carvalho-Romano, L.F., Bonafé, R.P., Paim, L.R. et al. Association of carotid wall layers with atherosclerotic plaques and cardiac hypertrophy in hypertensive subjects. J Hum Hypertens 36, 732–737 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41371-021-00565-w

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