Carotid ultrasound screening in rural populations demonstrated an overall pooled prevalence of carotid plaque of 34.1% (95% CI, 33.6-35.0), with most evidence originating from East Asian countries.
Systematic Review
Yes
What is the prevalence of carotid atherosclerosis detected by ultrasound screening in rural populations?
Carotid ultrasound screening in rural populations reveals a high prevalence of carotid plaque (34.1%), though data is largely limited to East Asian cohorts and lacks assessment of novel imaging biomarkers.
Carotid atherosclerosis assessments inform about stroke and cardiovascular risk. It is known that stroke and cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevalence is higher in rural communities than in urban communities. We aimed to conduct a systematic review of rural carotid ultrasound screening programs to define carotid atherosclerosis using traditional and emerging imaging biomarkers, prevalence, and risk factors. We searched Ovid/MEDLINE, Ovid/EMBASE, SCOPUS and CINAHL from inception to 3 April 2020 for rural population studies that utilized carotid ultrasound screening for adults ≥40 years of age and free of known cerebrovascular disease. Studies were included if participants received a bilateral ultrasound scanning of the carotid arteries and reported at least one marker of carotid atherosclerosis pathology. A random effect meta-analyses calculated the estimated prevalence of carotid plaque. In total, 22/3461 articles that met all of the inclusion criteria were included. Studies reported increased intima media thickness (IMT), carotid plaque presence and carotid artery stenosis. There were no studies reporting on novel imaging markers, such as carotid stiffness, carotid plaque morphology or neovascularization. The overall random effect pooled prevalence of carotid plaque was 34.1% (95% CI, 33.6-35.0); the prevalence of increased IMT was 11.2-41.5%, and the prevalence of carotid artery stenosis was 0.4-16.0%. There is an absence of data necessary to understand the carotid atherosclerosis prevalence across global rural populations. Represented studies have focused on East Asian countries where a high burden of rural carotid artery disease has been reported. There is no rural evidence to guide the use of novel ultrasound carotid biomarkers such as stiffness or neovascularization.
Petrova et al. (Wed,) conducted a systematic review in Carotid atherosclerosis. Carotid ultrasound screening was evaluated on Prevalence of carotid plaque (95% CI 33.6-35.0). Carotid ultrasound screening in rural populations demonstrated an overall pooled prevalence of carotid plaque of 34.1% (95% CI, 33.6-35.0), with most evidence originating from East Asian countries.
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