ARIC Contributions in 2003

Each year we present an overview of what we consider to be contributions of the ARIC study toward increasing the scientific knowledge base in cardiovascular diseases, and the public’s health. Listed below is such a summary, focused on reports published by the ARIC study in 2003.

A single-sentence synopsis of each publication’s findings is provided, with a reference to the full article. A link to the article is provided when feasible.

Community Surveillance of Heart Disease and Stroke

• Pre-hospital delay for coronary heart disease (CHD) has changed little 1987-99 (ARIC manuscript #531) [Link]
  


• ARIC’s validation rate for hospitalized myocardial infarcts (MIs) has been steady over time (ARIC manuscript #210) [Link]
  


• A large decline has occurred in the proportion of acute coronary syndromes labeled unstable angina, vs. MI. This is temporally correlated with troponin introduction. (ARIC manuscript #283) [Link]
  


• Lung function in African American asthmatics is associated with variants of the beta-3 adrenergic receptor (ARIC manuscript #814) [Link]
  

Risk Factors for Coronary Heart Disease

• The metabolic syndrome is associated with 1.5-fold (men) to 2-fold (women) increase in the risk for coronary heart disease (CHD) (ARIC manuscript #831b) [Link]
  


• Diabetic patients without myocardial infarction (MI) had a lower risk of CHD events than MI patients without diabetes, but stroke risk is similar between these two groups (ARIC manuscript #818) [Link]
  


• Lipoprotein-Associated Phospholipase A2 (LpLPA2) and C-Reactive protein (CRP) independently are associated with CHD in those with low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) (ARIC manuscript #889) [Link]
  


• Whole grain intake is inversely associated with CHD, but not stroke incidence (ARIC manuscript #750) [Link]
  


• Cardiac echocardiography detects mitral annular calcification (ARIC manuscript #845) [Link]
  


• JTc on the ECG predicts incident CHD in men with wide QRS (ARIC manuscript #482) [Link]
  


• Migraines are associated with angina but not CHD events (ARIC manuscript #400) [Link]
  


• Tooth loss due to periodontal disease is associated with CHD (ARIC manuscript #861) [Link]
  


• Pulse pressure is a predictor of CHD (ARIC manuscript #647) [Link]
  


• Proinflammatory single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) within the IL-1 gene cluster are associated with coronary heart disease (ARIC manuscript #612) [Link]
  


• Platelet glycoprotein 1ba polymorphism associated with CHD in African Americans but not Caucasians (ARIC manuscript #465) [Link]
  


• Lower neighborhood socioeconomic status independently predicted CVD mortality in whites but not blacks (ARIC manuscript #864) [Link]
  


• Employed women had 2/3 the mortality risk of homemakers (ARIC manuscript #822) [Link]
  

Risk Factors for Stroke

• Beyond basic risk factors, body mass index (BMI), waist/hip, low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), albumin, vonWillebrand factor, alcohol, peripheral arterial disease (PAD), and intima-media thickness (IMT) improved stroke prediction in ROC analysis (ARIC manuscript #824) [Link]
  


• Asthma is a risk factor for stroke, but not coronary heart disease (CHD) (ARIC manuscript #866) [Link]
  

Risk Factors for Peripheral Arterial Disease

• Higher depression score is associated with lower ankle/brachial index (ARIC manuscript #920) [Link]
  

Risk Factors for Hypertension

• Animal protein intake (but not vegetable) is inversely associated with blood pressure cross-sectionally and longitudinally (ARIC manuscript #461) [Link]
  


• Low heart rate variability is a risk factor for blood pressure elevation (ARIC manuscript #669a) [Link]
  

Risk Factors for Renal Dysfunction

• Retinal microvascular abnormalities are associated with impaired glomerular filtration (ARIC manuscript #769) [Link]
  


• Cigarette smoking is a risk factor for reduction in estimated kidney function (ARIC manuscript #673) [Link]
  

Risk factors for Diabetes

• Blood viscosity and hemoglobin are risk factors for type 2 diabetes (ARIC manuscript #912) [Link]
  


• Higher plasma free fatty acids modestly predict the incidence of type 2 diabetes (ARIC manuscript #862) [Link]
  


• Depressive symptoms and anger are modestly associated with type 2 (ARIC manuscript #770) [Link]
  


• Higher free-androgen index is associated positively with the metabolic syndrome in postmenopausal women (ARIC manuscript #881) [Link]
  

Risk Factors for Subclinical Vascular Disease

Carotid Artery Intima-Media Thickness (IMT)
• Metabolic syndrome by ATPIII and World Health Organization (WHO) criteria are associated with IMT (ARIC manuscript #831a) [Link]
  


• Self-reported weight at birth is unrelated to IMT (ARIC manuscript #835) [Link]
  


• Greater trait anger is positively associated with IMT (ARIC manuscript #516) [Link]
  


• Lewis genotypes (FUT3) are unrelated to IMT (ARIC manuscript #652) [Link]
  



Heart Rate Variability

• Diabetes, hyperinsulinemia, and hyperglycemia are associated with decreased heart rate variability cross-sectionally, but only in diabetics longitudinally (ARIC manuscript #669b) [Link]
  


• Several air pollutants are associated with worse cardiac autonomic control (ARIC manuscript #860) [Link]
  



Retinopathy or Retinal Vascular Changes

• Metabolic syndrome is positively associated with retinopathy (ARIC manuscript #906) [Link]
  


• Dietary antioxidants are largely unrelated to retinopathy (ARIC manuscript #609) [Link]
  



Left Ventricular Mass

• Obesity and hypertension contribute independently to left ventricular mass (LVM) index in African Americans (ARIC manuscript #674) [Link]
  


• Moderately decreased kidney function and lower hemoglobin independently predict higher LVM (ARIC manuscript #863) [Link]
  


• Optimal threshold for defining echo LVH in African Americans was virtually the same as for whites (ARIC manuscript #702b) [Link]
  



Miscellaneous Topics

• Lung function in African American asthmatics is associated with variants of the beta-3 adrenergic receptor (ARIC manuscript #814) [Link]
  


• Short term repeatability of heart rate variability was quantified (ARIC manuscript #894) [Link]
  


• Review of “systemic periodontitis” (ARIC manuscript #913) [Link]
  


• Levels of several endogenous hormones in postmenopausal women are associated with plasma CRP, fibrinogen, and white blood cell count (ARIC manuscript #856) [Link]
  


• Cognitive test scores were lower in those with cerebral atrophy identified by MRI (ARIC manuscript #314) [Link]
  


• Retinopathy is associated with cerebral atrophy on MRI (ARIC manuscript #753a) [Link]
  

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