Effect of Smoking on Common Carotid Artery Wall Elasticity Evaluated by Echo Tracking Technique

Abstract The aim of this study was to examine the applicability of echo tracking to evaluation of common carotid artery wall elasticity in smokers and the effects of hypertension, hyperlipidemia and hyperglycemia on common carotid artery wall elasticity in smokers. Subjects were divided into three groups based on smoking status and presence of complications: group A (healthy control group), group B1 (simple smoking group) and group B2 (smoking with complications group). Complications included one or several symptoms of hypertension, hyperlipidemia and hyperglycemia. Intima-media thickness (IMT) of the common carotid artery was measured with ultrasound, and wall stiffness index(β), pressure-strain elasticity modulus ( E p ), arterial compliance, augmentation index and local pulse wave velocity (PWVβ) were measured with echo tracking. We also determined the systolic ( D s ) and diastolic ( D d ) lumen diameters of the common carotid artery and systolic ( P s ) and diastolic ( P d ) pressures. The differences in β, E p and PWVβ among the three groups in this study were statistically significant ( p p p  > 0.05), but differences in D s and D d among the three groups were statistically significant ( p P s and P d between groups A and B1 were not statistically significant ( p  > 0.05), whereas those between groups B1 and B2 were statistically significant ( p