Chinese Arteriosclerosis Series Evaluation-She Minority Study

Population Subjects volunteered to participate the study will be all enrolled into the study. The study is designed to enroll subjects from two ethnic groups in the local population, namely She Minority and Han nationality. All participants will be asked to sign a written informed consent and the study has been approved by the hospital.

Methods

1. Questionnaire The questionnaire survey included family history, disease history (including coronary artery disease, cerebrovascular disease, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, peripheral artery disease), medication history (including cardiovascular drugs, hypertension drugs, diabetes drugs, lipid-lowering drugs), physical activity, smoking condition, drinking status, dietary and life habits etc.
2. Arterial stiffness by vascular function apparatus Arterial stiffness is assessed by brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (ba-PWV) using an automatic vascular function apparatus. Subjects lie on the detection bed resting about 10 minutes and the apparatus record the value of ba-PWV automatically.
3. Peripheral artery detection by vascular function apparatus Ankle-brachial index (ABI) is used as an evaluation index of peripheral artery and can be measured by an automatic vascular function apparatus.

During the detection of ABI, the blood pressure of the four limbs will be measured simultaneously. 4. Arterial elasticity indexes by carotid ultrasound apparatus A Doppler ultrasound apparatus with a built-in software named quality arterial stiffness (QAS) will be used to measure arterial elasticity indexes, including stiffness coefficient β, pressure strain elastic coefficient, arterial compliance etc. 5. Subclinical carotid atherosclerosis by carotid ultrasound apparatus Assessment indexes of subclinical atherosclerosis including carotid intima-media thickness (IMT), carotid plaque, carotid internal diameter， carotid blood flow peak velocity, diastolic peak velocity of carotid artery, average velocity, resistance index (RI) and pulsation index (PI) will be measured by Doppler ultrasound apparatus.

A more qualified detection of IMT will be also complete by a Doppler ultrasound apparatus with a built-in software named quality intima-media thickness (QIMT). 6. Vascular endothelial function detection Vascular endothelial function will be assessed by a noninvasive method of brachial ultrasound, named flow mediated dilation (FMD). Subjects lie on the detection bed resting 10 minutes and the operator will detect two times of the brachial artery diameter before and after hyperemia. 7. Biomarkers Biomarkers including fasting plasma glucose, plasma lipids (including total cholesterol, triglyceride, low density lipoprotein cholesterol, high density lipoprotein cholesterol), blood uric acid, blood urea nitrogen, creatinine, high sensitive C reactive protein, homocysteine lipoprotein a, Apolipoprotein A1, Apolipoprotein B, glycosylated hemoglobin, insulin, C-peptide etc.