Hypertension was associated with greater aortic plaque burden (P<0.02), and among nonhypertensive subjects, women had a greater prevalence of aortic plaque than men (P<0.006).
Cohort (n=1,763)
p-value: p=<0.02
Objective— The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of age, sex, and hypertension (HTN) on aortic atherosclerotic burden using cardiovascular MRI (CMR) in a free-living longitudinally followed cohort. Methods and Results— 1763 participants (829 M and 934 F; 38 to 88 years of age) of the Framingham Heart Study Offspring cohort underwent CMR of the thoracoabdominal aorta using an ECG-gated 2D T2-weighted black-blood sequence. Of these, 1726 subjects (96%) with interpretable CMR were characterized by sex, age-quartile, and presence or absence of HTN and clinical cardiovascular disease (CVD). Aortic plaque prevalence and volume increased with increasing age in both sexes. For the nonhypertensive (no-HTN) group, plaque was identified in 702 (46%) with greater prevalence in women than in men ( P <0.006). HTN was associated with greater aortic plaque burden ( P <0.02). The 200 subjects with clinical CVD had greater plaque burden than subjects without CVD ( P <0.0001). Conclusions— In this free-living longitudinally followed cohort, subclinical aortic atherosclerosis was seen in nearly half of subjects and increased with advancing age. HTN was associated with increased aortic plaque burden. Among no-HTN subjects, women had greater plaque burden than men. These data suggest that subclinical atherosclerosis is more common in no-HTN women and emphasize the importance of focusing on preventive measures in both sexes.
Oyama et al. (Fri,) conducted a cohort in Aortic atherosclerosis (n=1,763). Hypertension, age, and sex vs. No hypertension, younger age, and male sex was evaluated on Aortic plaque prevalence and volume (p=<0.02). Hypertension was associated with greater aortic plaque burden (P<0.02), and among nonhypertensive subjects, women had a greater prevalence of aortic plaque than men (P<0.006).