Associations between carotid atherosclerosis and high factor VIII activity, dyslipidemia, and hypertension

Background and Purpose: A subsample of 147 Chinese subjects from a population-based study of cardiovascular diseases (Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factor Two-Township Study) participated in an ancillary study on extracranial carotid color duplex ultrasonography that aimed to assess the relations of coagulation factors to stroke and carotid atherosclerosis. Methods: Logistic models were used to study the associations between cardiovascular disease risk factors and stroke/carotid atherosclerosis, controlling for the effects of age and sex. Results: Stroke was significantly associated with hypertension and high values of plasma glucose but not with fibrinogen, factor VIIc, or factor VIIIc. Carotid plaques identified in this study were mostly mild and moderate. The presence of these mild and moderate carotid plaques was significantly associated with high values of factor VIII activity, hypercholesterolemia, hypertriglyceridemia, and hypertension. The highest tertile of factor VIIIc (>1.53) was associated with an odds ratio of 3.35 for carotid atherosclerosis when compared with the lowest tertile (