Abstract:
B-mode ultrasound measurement of the carotid intima-media
thickness (CIMT) has been convincingly shown to be a
predictor of coronary artery disease (CAD) in several studies.
To my knowledge such assessments have not been carried
out in the Black South African population, which hitherto had
a low prevalence of CAD. However, with the increases in
prevalence of a cluster of risk factors categorised as the
Metabolic Syndrome (MS), CAD is inevitably on the increase.
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the role of CIMT in
predicting CAD in Black South Africans, and to correlate CIMT
with the known risk factors for CAD, including those of the
MS.
My study has shown that CIMT predicts the extent of CAD as
found at coronary angiography. Multiple regression analysis
identified hypertension and fasting glucose as the most
important determinants of CIMT. Age, obesity, smoking and
LDL-Cholesterol also correlated positively with CIMT. The
results suggest that in this population, hypertension and
diabetes are crucial in the pathogenesis of thickening of the
intima-media of carotid arteries, a surrogate marker of
coronary artery disease.
