IJCS | Volume 31, Nº4, July / August 2018

361 Gomes et al. Atherosclerosis and hypertension in pregnancy Int J Cardiovasc Sci. 2018;31(4)359-366 Original Article Results A total of 504 women were studied, of which 126 had carotid atherosclerosis and 378 did not. The groups did not differ regarding age, ethnicity, marital status and literacy (Table 1). There was also no difference regarding the number of pregnancies, preterm birth and low birth- weight offspring (Table 2). Carotid atherosclerosis showed a higher association with systemic arterial hypertension (OR 1.837, 95% CI 1.154-2.925, p = 0.01) and dyslipidemia (OR 1.971, 95%CI, 1.149-3.380, p = 0.01). There was a tendency to a higher prevalence of carotid atherosclerosis in women with metabolic syndrome (OR 1.442, 95% CI, 0.957-2.172, p = 0.08). Carotid atherosclerosis was also directly associated with higher systolic blood pressure (134.18 mmHg vs. 128.59 mmHg, p < 0.01), LDL-cholesterol (156.52 mg% vs. 139.97 mg%, p < 0.01) and TC levels (229.68 mg% vs. 214.31 mg%, p < 0.01). There was no difference in relation to diastolic blood pressure, BMI, waist circumference, hip circumference, glycemia, HDL-cholesterol, triglycerides or CRP levels (Tables 3 and 4). Approximately 10% of the sample had a history of pregnancy-induced hypertension. No statistically significant difference was observed between carotid atherosclerosis in the menopausal period and history of pregnancy-induced hypertension (OR 1.631, 95% CI: 0.874-3.042, p = 0.12). When analyzing only the women with a history of pregnancy-induced hypertension and those with systemic arterial hypertension in the menopausal period, no statistical differencewas observed either (OR 1.862, 95% CI: 0.955-3.628, p = 0.07). When the mean CIMT was evaluated, no statistical association was observed with the history of pregnancy- induced hypertension (0.8516 ± 0.1491 vs. 0.8101 ± 0.1441, Table 1 - Comparison of sociodemographic characteristics with carotid atherosclerosis in menopausal women Characteristics Total (504) n (%) Carotid atherosclerosis p value* No (378) n (%) Yes (126) n (%) Age, years 45-50 86 (17.1) 67 (17.7) 19 (15.1) 0.585 51-55 122 (24.2) 89 (23.5) 33 (26.2) 0.550 56-60 169 (33.5) 132 (34.9) 37 (29.4) 0.277 61-65 127 (25.2) 90 (23.8) 37 (29.4) 0.236 Ethnicity White 149 (29.6) 115 (30.4) 34 (27) 0.500 Black 83 (16.5) 65 (17.2) 18 (14.3) 0.491 Asian 8 (1.6) 6 (1.6) 2 (1.6) 1.000 Mixed-race 252 (50) 182 (48.1) 70 (55.6) 0.181 Native Brazilian 4 (0.8) 3 (0.8) 1 (0.8) 1.000 Marital status Single 216 (42.9) 158 (41.8) 58 (46) 0.408 Married 288 (57.1) 220 (58.2) 68 (54) 0.408 Literate No 76 (15.1) 56 (14.8) 20 (15.9) 0.775 Yes 428 (84.9) 322 (85.2) 106 (84.1) 0.775 * Chi-square test.