Talk to the Veterans Crisis Line now
U.S. flag
An official website of the United States government

VA Health Systems Research

Go to the VA ORD website
Go to the QUERI website

HSR&D Citation Abstract

Search | Search by Center | Search by Source | Keywords in Title

Associations Between Carotid Artery Plaque Burden, Plaque Characteristics, and Cardiovascular Events: The ARIC Carotid Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study.

Brunner G, Virani SS, Sun W, Liu L, Dodge RC, Nambi V, Coresh J, Mosley TH, Sharrett AR, Boerwinkle E, Ballantyne CM, Wasserman BA. Associations Between Carotid Artery Plaque Burden, Plaque Characteristics, and Cardiovascular Events: The ARIC Carotid Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study. JAMA cardiology. 2021 Jan 1; 6(1):79-86.

Dimensions for VA is a web-based tool available to VA staff that enables detailed searches of published research and research projects.

If you have VA-Intranet access, click here for more information vaww.hsrd.research.va.gov/dimensions/

VA staff not currently on the VA network can access Dimensions by registering for an account using their VA email address.
   Search Dimensions for VA for this citation
* Don't have VA-internal network access or a VA email address? Try searching the free-to-the-public version of Dimensions



Abstract:

Importance: It remains unknown whether in an asymptomatic community-based cohort magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) measures of plaque characteristics are independently associated with incident cardiovascular disease (CVD) events when adjusted for carotid artery (CA) wall thickness, a measure of plaque burden. Objective: To assess associations of CA MRI plaque characteristics with incident CVD events. Design, Setting, and Participants: The Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study is a prospective epidemiologic study of the incidence of CVD in 15?792 adults of which 2066 women and men were enrolled in the ARIC Carotid MRI substudy. ARIC participants were enrolled from 1987 to 1989, and the substudy was conducted between January 2004 and December 2005. Analysis began January 2017 and ended August 2020. Exposures: Incident CVD events during a median (interquartile range [IQR]) follow-up time of 10.5 (8.1-10.9) years were assessed. Main Outcomes and Measures: Proportional hazards Cox analyses were performed to ascertain associations between MRI variables of CA plaque burden and plaque characteristics. Results: Of 15?792 ARIC participants, 2066 were enrolled in the substudy, of whom 1256 (701 women [55.8%]) had complete data and were eligible for incident CVD analyses. Carotid artery plaques in participants with incident CVD events (172 [13.7%]) compared with those without (1084 [86.3%]) had a higher normalized wall index (median [IQR], 0.48 [0.36-0.62] vs 0.43 [0.34-0.55]; P? = .001), maximum CA wall thickness (median [IQR], 2.22 [1.37-3.52] mm vs 1.96 [1.29-2.85] mm; P? = .01), maximum CA stenosis (median [IQR], 5% [0%-22%] vs 0% [0%-13%]; P? < .001), and when present, a larger lipid core volume (median [IQR], 0.05 [0.02-0.11] mL vs 0.03 [0.01-0.07] mL; P? = .03), respectively. The presence of a lipid core was independently associated with incident CVD events when adjusted for traditional CVD risk factors and maximum CA wall thickness (hazard ratio, 2.48 [95% CI, 1.36-4.51]; P? = .003), whereas the presence of calcification was not. The frequency of intraplaque hemorrhage presence in this population of individuals free of CVD at baseline who were not recruited for carotid stenosis was too small to draw any meaningful conclusions (intraplaque hemorrhage presence: 68 of 1256 participants [5.4%]). Carotid artery lumen area and maximum stenosis, which were overall low, were independently associated with incident CVD events when adjusted for traditional CVD risk factors, as anticipated. Conclusions and Relevance: The presence of a CA lipid core on MRI is associated with incident CVD events independent of maximum CA wall thickness in asymptomatic participants.





Questions about the HSR website? Email the Web Team

Any health information on this website is strictly for informational purposes and is not intended as medical advice. It should not be used to diagnose or treat any condition.