Clinical atherosclerosis was present in 6.1% of individuals aged 18-70, increasing with age to 17.3% in 60-70 years, and was 57% higher in males (RR 1.57).
In a large representative sample of adults aged 18-70, 6.1% had clinical atherosclerosis, predominantly ischemic heart disease, with prevalence strongly driven by increasing age and male sex.
Absolute Event Rate: 0% vs 0%
Abstract Background Atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of mortality worldwide, responsible for almost one in three deaths. Atherosclerosis is a progressive disease which can affect multiple territories. Clinical manifestations, such as ischemic heart disease, stroke and peripheral artery disease, occur after years of silent progression. Currently there are no national screening programs targeting silent atherosclerosis. As a part of an ongoing, international initiative, we aim to describe the prevalence of both subclinical and clinical atherosclerosis throughout the body among individuals aged 18-70. This age range was chosen to maximize the impact of early primary prevention among individuals at risk. In this abstract we present the prevalence of clinical atherosclerosis in a representative sample of individuals. Purpose To determine the frequency of clinical atherosclerosis throughout all vascular territories. Methods A representative sample of individuals aged 18 and older was selected based on socioeconomic data and accessed through national registries. We defined clinical atherosclerosis using diagnosis ICD10 code and procedure code for ischemic heart disease, stroke, and peripheral artery disease. We stratified the prevalence of atherosclerosis by age and sex and vascular territories. Risks were compared using risk ratios (RR) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CI). Results The sample consisted of 160,000 individuals with 80,000 females (50%) with a median age of 46 years (range 18-70 years, IQR 33-58 years). There were 9,825 individuals (6.1%) with any form of clinical atherosclerosis. Figure 1 shows the prevalence of atherosclerosis stratified by age, sex, and vascular territory. Panel A shows the prevalence of any atherosclerotic disease, which increased from 0.3% among 18–29-year-olds to 17.3% for 60–70-year-olds, and was significantly higher among males, RR 1.57 (95% CI 1.51-1.63, p0.001). The most frequent atherosclerotic disease was ischemic heart disease (n=5,665, 3.54% of the entire sample), followed by stroke (n=3,567, 2.23%), and then peripheral artery disease (n=1,581, 0.99%). The mean age was similar for individuals with a history of ischemic heart disease and peripheral artery disease (60.7 years vs 60.8, p=0.75) but was lower for stroke (59.1 years, p0.001 for both comparisons). Conclusion Atherosclerosis is a major driver of morbidity and mortality worldwide. In the age group 18-70 years approximately 6% of the representative sample had clinical atherosclerosis, gradually increasing with age and predominantly in males. The most frequently affected vascular territory was the heart followed by the brain. These findings will form a part of a full description of the prevalence of atherosclerosis.
Hasselbalch et al. (Sat,) reported a other. Clinical atherosclerosis was present in 6.1% of individuals aged 18-70, increasing with age to 17.3% in 60-70 years, and was 57% higher in males (RR 1.57).