15289-s-bos

3 39 | Carotid ultrasonography in statin treated FH regression analyses, carotid plaque presence as a dichotomous variable was a strong predictor of calcium severity independently of age (proportional odds: 11.94 (95% CI 3.26-43.69); p < 0.001) (table 3). Table 3.3 | Predictors of the extent of coronary calcium Multiple ordinal regression in statin-treated FH patients (n=49) Predictor variables Proportional Odds 1 95 % CI p-Value Plaque presence 11.94 3.26-43.69 0.0002 Age (Years) 1.09 1.03-1.16 0.005 1 The Proportional Odds was calculated with an ordinal logistic regression analysis, using three ranked categories of Agatston-score (AU = Agatston units): group 1 (AU=0, n=14), group 2 (0 <AU < 136; n = 17), group 3 (AU > 136; n = 18). This model predicts how much an increase in the explanatory variable leads to an increase of probability of being in the higher calcification group. R2 = Nagelkerke R square, CI = confidence interval R2 = 42% Discussion This study demonstrates that the prevalence of carotid plaques and C-IMT did not differ between long-term statin-treated FH patients and healthy controls. Moreover, carotid plaques but not C-IMT correlated with coronary calcium in a subgroup of FH patients who underwent cardiac CT. Inour cohortof FHpatientswithmeanageof 46years,we foundthat 31%showedcarotid artery plaques , which was not significantly different fromour controls. We observed a not significant 8% difference in plaque prevalence. It is unlikely that such a small difference contributes to a clinical relevant difference in risk of cardiovascular events in individual patients. However, at a population scale this still may point at incomplete normalisation of the risk. Some of our control subjects did exhibit ASCVD risk factors such as hypertension and smoking that could have led to an increase in carotid plaques or C-IMT. In contrast the prevalence of carotid plaques in our healthy volunteers (23%) in our study seems to be in line with previous studies in healthy volunteers. In a Swedish cohort with a mean age of 57 years, plaques were present in 43% of the participants (22), and in an American multi-ethnic population with mean age 61 years, prevalence was 42% (9). The prevalence of plaques is higher in untreated newly diagnosed FH patients(17). In the pre-statin era, carotid plaques were present in 70% of FH patients all younger than 30 years, compared to only 12% in age-matched controls (23). This also suggests that initial differences in the