Correlation between Carotid Artery Intima-Media Thickness and Luminal Diameter with Body Mass Index and Other Cardiovascular Risk Factors in Adults

Objectives: this study aimed to examine the correlation between carotid artery intima-media thickness (imt) and luminal diameter (ld) with body mass index (bmi) and other cardiovascular risk factors. methods: this observational cross-sectional study took place between june 2013 and march 2014 in the radiology department of rizgary teaching hospital in erbil, iraq. non-randomly selected subjects ≥20 years old (n = 140) were divided into bmi groups and evaluated for the following cardiovascular risk factors: gender, age, hypertension (htn), diabetes (dm), smoking, alcohol consumption, blood pressure, serum total cholesterol and triglyceride (tg) levels. imt and ld of the extracranial carotid arteries were measured by b-mode ultrasonography. results: the mean imt was 0.8 ± 0.3 mm, ranging from a total mean of 0.7 mm in the normal bmi group to 1.0 mm in the extremely obese group. a significant correlation was found between imt and bmi (p = 0.04), but not between bmi and ld (p = 0.3). no significant difference in mean imt or ld was seen between genders. significant correlations were found between imt and age, htn, dm, high serum cholesterol and tg levels (p <0.001). an increase of one bmi unit caused a 0.009 mm increase in imt and an increase of one year in age caused a 0.011 mm increase in imt. conclusion: age, obesity, htn, dm, high serum cholesterol and tg levels were found to have an impact on carotid imt, which is a strong marker for the early development of atherosclerosis.