| ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to describe the distribution of carotid atherosclerosis in the middle-aged and senile population in China; to evaluate the relationship of carotid atherosclerosis to cardiovascular disease; and to explore its relative factors.MethodsA cross-sectional study on cardiovascular disease and relative risk factors was carried out in 1394 subjects, aged 43-73, in suburban in Beijing in Sep, 2002. The response rate was 85.7%. Carotid lesions were detected and evaluated high-resolution B-mode ultrasonography in 1202 subjects, with the participation rate 86.2%.The inter- and intra-reproducibility of the measurements were assessed for the intima-media thickness (IMT), vessel interior diameter and plaque in 20 subjects. There was no statistically significant difference between two technicians for IMT, interior diameter and plaque areas, with r=0.69, r=0.83-0.90 and r=0.95, respectively. As for plaque, the coincidence rate was 97.5% between the two technicians (κ =0.950).The intra-reproducibility was evaluated between the first and the second measurements by each technician. The correlation was 0.69 for IMT, 0.69-0.81 for interior diameter and 0.83 for plaque area. 85% of the first plaque coincided with the second one (κ=0.696).SPSS 10.0 software package was used for the analysis. Plaque number and plaque area were converted into natural logarithms to make their distribution canonical before further analysis. A value of p<0.05 was considered statistically significant.
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