Relation of essential hypertension to carotid atherosclerosis

Objective: To determine the prevalence of carotid artery atherosclerosis(CAS) in patients with essential hypertension(EH).Methods: Eighty patients with EH were divided into three groups(mild,moderate,severe and very severe)according to WHO's risky classification.Doppler ultrasonics was performed in 80 patients with EH and 30 control subjects.To quantify the extent of CAS,the intima-media thicknesses(IMT)of common carotid artery(CCA) were measured.Results: The IMTs of CCA were significantly higher in the middle or high stage of EH patients than those in normal subjects (P<0.01).There was an increasing trend for IMT with the severity of carotid artery plaque.The ratio of carotid artery plaque increased significantly in the hypertensive group versus the control group(P<0.01).Conclusions: Formation of atherosclerosis plaque and IMT of carotid artery are the frequent abnormal findings in the carotid arteries of essential hypertensive patients.Increase in IMT of carotid arteries are clearly related to atherosclerosis plaque.The severity of CAS may be used as a reference index for the prediction of cerebrovascular disease.