Concomitants of atherosclerotic carotid artery stenosis.

To identify metabolic and other concomitants of a single important type of atherosclerotic cerebrovascular disease, 75 patients with angiographically and surgically proven internal carotid stenosis were compared with age and sex matched control subjects with respect to plasma cholesterol, triglycerides and glucose. They were also compared for blood pressure, cigarette smoking, evidence of ischemic heart disease, peripheral vascular disease and for a family history of these diseases. Patients with carotid stenosis had higher systolic and diastolic blood pressures and higher plasma cholesterol and triglyceride concentrations than the control groups. They had, as well, a far greater likelihood of being cigarette smokers and a greater likelihood of having diabetes mellitus and previous evidence of coronary and peripheral vascular disease. Patients with carotid stenosis were far more likely to have 2 or more of these common concomitants of atherosclerosis than were the control subjects. The data suggest that the precursors of carotid stenosis are similar to those of coronary atherosclerosis and raise the hope that modification of these factors may decrease the incidence of this highly prevalent form of cerebrovascular disease.