Subclinical Atherosclerosis in Latino Youth: Progression of Carotid Intima-Media Thickness and Its Relationship to Cardiometabolic Risk Factors

ObjectiveTo assess carotid artery intima-media thickness (CIMT) change over 2 years in overweight Latino adolescents and examine its relationship to cardiometabolic risk.Study designSeventy-two healthy overweight male and female Latino adolescents (mean age, 14.5 ± 1.7 years; mean body mass index, 31.5 ± 6.9 kg/m2) were evaluated at baseline and 2 years later for CIMT by high-resolution B-mode ultrasound, the metabolic syndrome and its features, body composition by dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry and magnetic resonance imaging, glucose/insulin measures by fasting blood, and oral and intravenous glucose tolerance tests.ResultsBaseline CIMT did not differ from 2-year follow-up; however, 38 participants increased CIMT (0.017 ± 0.003 mm; +2.8%) and 34 decreased or remained the same (−0.019 ± 0.002 mm; −3.1%). ANCOVA analyses showed that participants with CIMT progression had higher baseline low-density lipoprotein (LDL)-cholesterol and total cholesterol (91.3 ± 3.4 and 150.3 ± 3.9 mg/dL) compared with those with CIMT non-progression (78.1 ± 3.6 and 135.6 ± 4.2 mg/dL, P < .05), independent of sex, baseline CIMT, age, and height. In multivariate regression, LDL-cholesterol was the sole predictor of CIMT progression, but the effect was small (odds of CIMT progression increased by 3% for each 1 mg/dL higher baseline LDL-cholesterol; 95% CI, 1.004 to 1.006, P = .03).ConclusionsThese results indicate a high variability in the magnitude of CIMT change in growing overweight Latino youth and support the use of LDL-cholesterol to assess subclinical atherosclerosis risk in this population.