Associations between carotid artery intima media thickness, leukocytes and high sensitive c reactive protein in a high risk european population
Articolo
Data di Pubblicazione:
2009
Citazione:
Associations between carotid artery intima media thickness, leukocytes and high sensitive c reactive protein in a high risk european population / E. Tremoli, D. Baldassarre. - In: ATHEROSCLEROSIS SUPPLEMENTS. - ISSN 1567-5688. - 10:2(2009), pp. e74-e74. ((Intervento presentato al 15. convegno International Symposium on Atherosclerosis tenutosi a Boston nel 2009 [10.1016/S1567-5688(09)70081-9].
Abstract:
Aim: To assess the associations between white blood cells (WBC), high sensitive C reactive protein (hs−CRP) and carotid artery intima media thickness (IMT) in an European population of subjects at high cardiovascular risk, and whether this association is modified by gender, latitude and/or cigarette-smoking.
Methods: The baseline dataset of the IMPROVE cohort, including 3711 subjects (age range 54-79 years) with at least 3 vascular risk factors, recruited in 7 centers of 5 European countries (Finland, France, Italy, the Netherlands and Sweden) was analyzed.
Results: Crude significant correlations between carotid IMT, WBC and hs−CRP were observed. The associations of hs−CRP and WBC with carotid IMT were evident in men, but not in women and both relations showed significant interactions with gender (p<0.05). A further three-way interaction with latitude was identified for hs−CRP (p=0.0009) but not for WBC. In contrast with latitude, smoking habits do not interfere with the relationships between hs−CRP, WBC, gender and carotid IMT.
Conclusions: Both leukocytes and hs−CRP are major determinants of carotid IMT in men, but not in women. The sex-specific effect of hs−CRP seems to be additionally influenced by latitude: regardless of smoking habits, women in northern Europe appear to be protected against the pro-atherosclerotic effect of hs−CRP, whereas those in the south do not.
Funding: European Project, IMPROVE QLG1-CT-2002-00896
Tipologia IRIS:
01 - Articolo su periodico
Elenco autori:
E. Tremoli, D. Baldassarre
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