RESUMO
There is a general tendency towards atherosclerosis and arterial dilatation in older age, and high blood pressure also tends to increase arterial diameters. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of hypertension and other cardiovascular risk factors on aortic, common iliac and common femoral artery diameters. The diameters of the abdominal aorta and the iliac and femoral arteries and the extent of echogenic plaques in the aorta and the iliac arteries down to groin level were evaluated with ultrasound in 1007 middle-aged (40-60 years) men (505) and women (502), 496 with arterial hypertension and 511 controls. Twenty-eight subjects were excluded because of poor visualization. Men had significantly larger diameters of the abdominal aorta (mean 21.3+/-2.8 vs. 17.8+/-1.3 mm) and the common iliac (13.4+/-2.0 vs. 12.2+/-1.2) and common femoral arteries (11.0+/-1.4 vs. 9.7+/-0.9) than women (P for all <0.001), but arterial diameter was also related to the subject's size. Atherosclerotic plaques, age and height were associated with the diameter of the abdominal aorta in men, while high body mass index (BMI) had less significance. The diameter of the aorta was larger in hypertensive men aged 56-60 than in controls of the same age. In women, height, BMI and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) were associated with the diameter of the aorta, while systolic blood pressure (SBP) had less and age no effect. Age, plaques, height, BMI, DBP and SBP were associated with the diameters of the common iliac arteries in both genders, while smoking had an inverse correlation. The results on lipid values were inconsistent and an abnormal glucose tolerance test proved nonsignificant. In conclusion, arterial size measured as a diameter related to the subject's size was larger in men. Age, arterial plaques and blood pressure increased arterial diameter significantly. However, the hypertensive disease itself had only a minimal effect. The changes were smaller in women than in men.