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American Journal of Epidemiology Advance Access originally published online on September 19, 2008
American Journal of Epidemiology 2008 168(9):1016-1023; doi:10.1093/aje/kwn211
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American Journal of Epidemiology © The Author 2008. Published by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org.

ORIGINAL CONTRIBUTIONS

The Association of Coronary Artery Calcification and Carotid Artery Intima-Media Thickness With Distinct, Traditional Coronary Artery Disease Risk Factors in Asymptomatic Adults

Evadnie Rampersaud, Lawrence F. Bielak, Afshin Parsa, Haiqing Shen, Wendy Post, Kathleen A. Ryan, Patrick Donnelly, John A. Rumberger, Patrick F. Sheedy, II, Patricia A. Peyser, Alan R. Shuldiner and Braxton D. Mitchell

Correspondence to Dr. Braxton D. Mitchell, University of Maryland, Baltimore, 660 West Redwood Street, Room 492, Baltimore, MD 21201 (e-mail: bmitchel{at}medicine.umaryland.edu).

Received for publication November 7, 2007. Accepted for publication June 13, 2008.

Coronary artery calcification (CAC) and common carotid artery intima-media thickness (CIMT) are measures of subclinical vascular disease. This 2000–2006 study aimed to characterize the associations among coronary artery disease risk factors, CAC quantity, and CIMT and to estimate shared genetic and environmental contributions to both CAC and CIMT among 478 asymptomatic Amish adults in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Heritability for CAC quantity and CIMT, adjusted for age and sex, was 0.42 (P = 0.0001) and 0.29 (P = 0.003), respectively. CAC quantity and CIMT were modestly correlated (adjusted r = 0.14, P = 0.003) but showed little evidence of shared genetic or environmental factors. However, significant genetic correlations were found for CAC quantity and total cholesterol (0.44 (standard error, 0.19); P = 0.03), for CAC quantity and low density lipoprotein cholesterol (0.55 (standard error, 0.17); P = 0.005), and for CIMT and waist circumference (0.58 (standard error, 0.25); P = 0.046), suggesting shared genes for these risk factors and measures of subclinical disease. Results suggest that some of the same genes influence variation in CAC and low density lipoprotein cholesterol, whereas a different set of genes influences variation in CIMT and waist circumference.

atherosclerosis; calcification, physiologic; carotid arteries; coronary vessels; genetics; risk factors; vascular diseases

Abbreviations: CAC, coronary artery calcification; CIMT, carotid artery intima-media thickness; SE, standard error


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