When measured by ultrasound, the morphological markers of carotid atherosclerosis such as intima-media thickness (IMT) and cross-sectional plaque area have been associated with the risk of ischaemic stroke. We set out to determine whether the morphological parameters of the carotid arteries made it possible to better differentiate between groups of older atherothrombotic stroke patients and persons without cerebrovascular disease than conventional and novel risk factors of stroke.
Of the total number of 623 persons examined, 54 stroke patients (mean age 63.3 years) and 74 controls without cerebrovascular disease (mean age 66.3 years) fulfilled the inclusion criteria for this investigation and were enrolled in the case-control study. After adjustment for age, gender and education level, the strongest associations were found between stroke and carotid IMT [odds ratio (OR) = 10.6; 95% confidence interval (CI): 4.3–26.9] and plaque area (OR = 5.4; 95%CI: 2.3–13.1). Other risk factors showed weaker associations with stroke occurrence. Of the clinical risk factors, a significant association was found between stroke and coronary heart disease (OR = 3.5; 95%CI: 1.2–10.2), hypertension (OR = 3.2; 95%CI: 1.5–7.2) and smoking (OR = 2.7; 95%CI: 1.1–6.4). From the laboratory-derived risk factors a significant association was found between stroke and triglyceride levels (OR = 4.4; 95%CI: 1.9–10.0), and an inverse correlation was observed between stroke occurrence and HDL-cholesterol level (OR = 0.4; 95%CI: 0.2–0.8).
The carotid IMT and plaque area, measured with the use of ultrasonography, showed a better correlation with stroke occurrence than currently recognised clinical and biochemical risk factors. The intima-media thickness and plaque area of the carotid arteries could be useful parameters in the development of strategies to identify patients at high risk of atherothrombotic ischaemic stroke.