Home – Home – Jornals – The journal "Ateroskleroz" 2013 number 1

The specific features of the development of atherosclerosis in women and determinants of subclinical changes of carotid artery are less investigated than in men. The purpose of review is to summarize the findings from published studies of the association between carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT) and risk factors of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) in women. We performed a systematic PubMed literature search for 20 years (1993–2012) on this subject (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed). In addition, some early published major studies were included in the review. Despite heterogeneity of the results presented in literature, their analysis showed specific features of the associations between CIMT and CVD risk factors in women. For instance, weak association was revealed between CIMT and age in women under 50 years old and the faster annual progression of CIMT was shown at older age compared to men. Hypertension and blood pressure (predominantly systolic) are associated with CIMT increase similarly in men and women. Direct association between CIMT and obesity was also shown in both sexes. The higher prevalence of obesity and metabolic syndrome was reported among women in menopausal age than in men, but we failed to find out the evidence of different associations between these factors and CIMT in men and women in available literature. Specific associations was found with dyslipidemia, namely, the different impact of triglycerides level on CIMT in women depending on menstrual status and age. The smoking was associated with CIMT, and in women above 45 years old smoking was the most powerful predictor of atherosclerosis independently from menstrual status and age. Sex-specific effect of genetic factors and new biomarkers on the development of subclinical atherosclerosis was observed although the data accumulated in this area are controversial and require further research. The understanding of female peculiarities in the determination of carotid intima-media thickening might improve the efficiency of atherosclerosis prevention at early stage.