Abstract
Although the risk factors for atherosclerosis have been identified, their impact on the presentation of arterial occlusive disease has not been studied among Arabs.
To determine the correlation between atherosclerotic risk factors and the extent and presentation of atherosclerotic disease in different arterial systems.
The present case-control study was performed on a consecutive series of Arabic patients over one year. There were two groups - an atherosclerotic group, which included patients with peripheral arterial disease, extracranial cerebrovascular disease or coronary artery disease (CAD), and the control group, which included patients admitted to one of the general surgical units who were free from atherosclerotic disease. All patients underwent evaluation of risk factors (diabetes mellitus [DM], smoking, dyslipidemia and hypertension) for atherosclerosis and systemic assessment of the vascular tree.
Two hundred fifteen patients in the atherosclerotic group and 191 patients in the control group were included in the study. There were positive correlations between the prevalence of DM, smoking, dyslipidemia and the severity of presentation of peripheral arterial disease, and the extent of CAD. The correlation between the incidence of DM and the severity of presentation of CAD was also significant. The correlation was also positive between the incidence of ex-smoking and hypertension, and the severity of presentation of extracranial cerebrovascular disease.
Different risk factors may interact in different ways in the clinical presentation of atherosclerotic disease in different arterial systems.