Atherosclerosis of abdominal aorta in a population of the northern part of European Russia

Atherosclerosis is a major challenge for public health services throughout the world. It is a systemic degenerative disease affecting all arterial basins and most fiequently occurring in men aged above 40 years. Multifocal lesions are much more typical than isolated lesion of a single basin. Atherosclerosis is a frequent cause of impaired patency of visceral branches of abdominal aorta and is a chronic disorder of visceral circulation manifest as ischemia of abdominal organs. We studied native preparations of abdominal aortafrom residents of the northern part of European Russia using the WHO-recommended visual planimetric method. It was shown that 93.4% of the residents of this region aged above 50 years have abdominal aorta affected by atherosclerosis. Statistical analysis did not reveal signficant differences between the frequency of atherosclerotic lesions in men and women. Most of them had raised aortic lesions. Correlation analysis with the calculation ofpaired Pearson correlation coefficients demonstrated moderate correlation between atherosclerotic lesions of abdominal aorta and the stage of atheromatosis (r=0,42; p = 0,000).