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Table 1 Characteristics of all participants and of subsets with and without carotid lesions at baseline, Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Limited Access Data, 1987–89.

From: B-mode ultrasound common carotid artery intima-media thickness and external diameter: cross-sectional and longitudinal associations with carotid atherosclerosis in a large population sample

  

Full Study

Carotid Lesions:

 
  

Sample

Present

Absent

 
  

N = 7956

N = 2955

N = 5001

p-value

Age, years (mean (SD))

54.0 (5.7)

55.7 (5.5)

53.0 (5.6)

<0.0001

Male Gender (%)

43.4

52

38.3

<0.0001

Black race (%)

22.6

21.1

23.4

0.02

Smoker (%)

Current

25.6

31.7

21.9

<0.0001

 

Former

31.4

34.2

29.8

 
 

Never

43.0

34.2

48.3

 

Cigarette years* (mean (SD))

660 (418)

735 (449)

596 (379)

<0.0001

Drinker (%)

Current

58.5

58.6

58.4

0.0002

 

Former

17.3

19.3

16.1

 
 

Never

24.2

22.0

25.4

 

Ethanol, grams/week† (mean (SD))

72 (111)

79 (125)

60 (102)

<0.0001

Diabetes (%)

8.8

10.3

7.9

0.0002

Hypertension medication (%)

24.6

36.5

26.8

<0.0001

Cholesterol medication (%)

2.8

3.4

2.4

0.011

Body Mass Index (mean (SD))

26.7 (4.6)

26.5 (4.4)

26.8 (4.7)

0.0032

Systolic BP, mm Hg (mean (SD))

120 (18)

123 (19)

118 (17)

<0.0001

Diastolic BP, mm Hg (mean (SD))

72.7 (10.9)

73.0 (11.0)

72.6 (10.9)

0.146

LDL-C, mmol/L (mean (SD))

3.53 (1.00)

3.69 (0.98)

3.44 (1.01)

<0.0001

HDL-C, mmol/L (mean (SD))

1.38 (0.45)

1.32 (0.43)

1.41 (0.46)

<0.0001

Fibrinogen, mg/dL (mean (SD))

298 (63)

305 (64)

294 (62)

<0.0001

White blood count, 1000s/μL (mean (SD))

6.0 (1.9)

6.3 (2.0)

5.9 (1.8)

<0.0001

Blood glucose, mg/dL (mean (SD))

105 (33)

107 (36)

104 (31)

<0.0001

Sport index (mean (SD))

2.47 (0.80)

2.48 (0.79)

2.47 (0.81)

0.34

Standing height, cm (mean (SE)) ‡

168.5 (0.1)

169 (0.11)

169.6 (0.09)

<0.0001

RCCA measures (mean (SE)) §

    

   Intima-medial thickness (mm)

0.65 (0.002)

0.71 (0.003)

0.63 (0.002)

<0.0001

   Diameter (mm)

7.72 (0.01)

7.94 (0.01)

7.65 (0.01)

<0.0001

   Circular wall area (mm2)

14.6 (0.05)

16.2 (0.08)

13.9 (0.06)

<0.0001

   Elliptical wall area (mm2)

20.9 (0.06)

22.8 (0.09)

20.1 (0.07)

<0.0001

  1. BP = blood pressure.
  2. IMT = intima-media thickness.
  3. RCCA = right common carotid artery.
  4. SD = standard deviation.
  5. SE = standard error.
  6. N = Maximum number possible. Lower numbers were available for some variables because of missing information.
  7. * Among current smokers.
  8. †Among current drinkers.
  9. ‡Height is adjusted for gender in the carotid lesion subsets.
  10. § RCCA measures are adjusted for height and gender in the carotid lesion subsets.