[Risk factors related to the wall thickness of the common carotid artery in elderly patients].

We used ultrasonography to evaluate atherosclerotic lesions in the common carotid arteries of 147 inpatients (82 men, 65 women; mean age, 72.2 years). We sought to determine the relation between these lesions and various risk factors for atherosclerosis, as well as the utility of ultrasonography in quantitative evaluation of atherosclerotic disease. A 7.5 MHz transducer was used and atherosclerotic lesions were evaluated on the basis of the thickness of their intimal-medial complex, which we term wall thickness. The relations between these measurements and age, sex, blood pressure, smoking history, lipid metabolism, diabetes mellitus, and atherosclerotic disease were studied. Wall thickness of the common carotid arteries correlated with age (men: r = 0.45; women: r = 0.38). Brinkman Index (r = 0.25), systolic blood pressure (r = 0.44), diastolic pressure (r = 0.18), and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C, r = -0.23). Multiple regression analysis with these risk factors as explanatory variables showed that age, Brinkman Index, systolic blood pressure, HDL-C, and diabetes mellitus contributed significantly to increased wall thickness. Wall thickness was significantly greater in patients with atherosclerotic disease such as cerebral infarction and ischemic heart diseases. These findings indicate that appropriate treatment for multiple atherosclerotic risk factors may be necessarily in the elderly.