Aortic & peripheral vascular diseaseCohort study
Importance of Age and Sex in Carotid Artery Plaque Detection and Cardiovascular Disease Risk
- Prospective cohort study
- multiethnic cohort (Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA))
Authors' conclusion
CAP becomes very common with increasing age among individuals without clinical ASCVD, and the association of CAP with incident ASCVD events was strongest in younger ages, especially among women.
Study context
- Population
- Adults aged 45 to 84 years free of clinical atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) at recruitment (2000–2002), MESAof 6814 in MESA
- Participants
- 5,689 adults
- Exposure
- Carotid artery plaque (CAP) present vs CAP absent
- Outcome
- ASCVD events:
- CHD events
- Stroke
- ASCVD death
- Follow-up
- Median 17.6 years
Main finding
ASCVD events
Hazard ratio
1.38
95% CI 1.20–1.58
P < 0.001
CAP vs No CAP
HR 1.38 (95% CI 1.20–1.58); P < 0.001
As reported in the abstract
- ASCVD events in total
- 1043
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Further findings
CAP–ASCVD association by age (≤60 vs >60 years) and sex (subgroup)
- Stronger among younger (≤60 years) vs older (>60 years)
- P for interaction = 0.01
- Women
- P for interaction = 0.005
- Men
- P for interaction = 0.66
CAP prevalence by age, sex, race and ethnicity
- Chinese women younger than 50 years
- 15%
- Non-Hispanic White men aged 80 to 84 years
- 95%
Original publication
Importance of Age and Sex in Carotid Artery Plaque Detection and Cardiovascular Disease Risk. JAMA Cardiol. Published 1 May 2025. doi:10.1001/jamacardio.2024.5702
Summarised from the published abstract; every number is checked against it