Distribution characteristics of carotid artery intima-media thickness in Beijing community population

Objective To explore the distribution characteristics of carotid intima-media thickness(IMT) in different genders and ages in community population and try to identify the IMT reference range for Chinese population.Methods A total of 1 256 subjects were measured IMT in different positions by using two-dimensional echo-color Doppler scanning and were analyzed.Results Carotid IMT increased with the increase of age and was higher in males than that in females in the same age group(P0.05).After adjusting for age,gender and body mass,the partial correlation analysis showed that carotid IMT was significantly correlated with age,gender and body mass(r=-0.10,0.23,0.07,P0.05).Sinus-IMT was significantly correlated with the level of low density lipoprotein cholesterol,high density lipoprotein cholesterol,age and gender(r=0.15,-0.10,0.38,0.14,P0.05).The internal carotid artery-IMT was significantly correlated with age,gender,body mass,fasting plasma glucose and low-density lipoprotein level(r=0.31,0.84,0.17,0.13,0.10,P0.05).Bland-Altman analysis showed that the measurements of IMT in bilateral carotid artery were in a good agreement both in man and woman groups.Conclusion The distribution of IMT is significantly different in different ages and genders,which contributes to the establishment of the IMT reference range for Chinese population.