IJCS | Volume 31, Nº4, July / August 2018

362 Gomes et al. Atherosclerosis and hypertension in pregnancy Int J Cardiovasc Sci. 2018;31(4)359-366 Original Article Table 2 - Comparison of pregnancy-related characteristics with carotid atherosclerosis in menopausal women Characteristics Total (504) n (%) Carotid atherosclerosis p value* No (378) n (%) Yes (126) n (%) Number of pregnancies None 38 (7.5) 27 (7.1) 11 (8.7) 0.561 One 42 (9) 36 (10.2) 6 (5.2) 0.132 Two 112 (24) 82 (23.3) 30 (26.1) 0.530 Three 114 (24.4) 86 (24.4) 28 (24.3) 1.000 Four 67 (14.3) 50 (14.2) 17 (14.8) 0.879 Five 41 (8.8) 29 (8.2) 12 (10.4) 0.453 Six 32 (6.9) 22 (6.3) 10 (8.7) 0.396 Pregnancy-induced hypertension No 454 (90.1) 345 (91.3) 109 (86.5) 0.124 Yes 50 (9.9) 33 (8.7) 17 (13.5) 0.124 Low birth-weight newborn No 475 (94.2) 358 (94.7) 117 (92.9) 0.507 Yes 29 (5.8) 20 (5.3) 9 (7.1) 0.507 Preterm birth No 454 (90.1) 340 (89.9) 114 (90.5) 1.000 Yes 50 (9.9) 38 (10.1) 12 (9.5) 1.000 * Teste do qui quadrado. p = 0.06). Also, no statistical difference was observed when only the presence of carotid plaques was compared with a history of pregnancy-induced hypertension (OR 1,332, 95% CI: 0.668-2.655, p = 0.41). In the logistic regression model, only systemic arterial hypertension (B = 0.108, p = 0.01) and dyslipidemia (B = 0.122, p = 0.01) showed statistical significancewith carotid atherosclerosis in the menopausal period (Table 5). Discussion In our study, carotid atherosclerosis was associated with systemic arterial hypertension and dyslipidemia, but not with a history of pregnancy-induced hypertension, although the CIMT and the presence of carotid plaques were analyzed separately. These results indicate that pregnancy-induced hypertension is not associated with subclinical atherosclerosis. Increased CIMT and the presence of carotid plaques have been described as independent cardiovascular risk predictors. 17-20 However, most studies attempting to associate a history of pregnancy-inducedhypertension and carotid atherosclerosis are conflicting, since they did not use standardizedCIMT and carotidplaquemeasurements. Our data add information to the literature due to the large number of assessed patients. All ultrasonographic assessments were performed by the same examiner, blinded for the variable history of pregnancy-induced hypertension, eliminating measurement bias. The latest recommendations for CIMT and carotid plaque measurements were followed. 15 The physiological behavior of CIMTwas described by Akhter et al., 21 who, after analyzing 57 healthy women, showed that CIMT remains practically stable during pregnancy, but decreases one year after delivery. Blaauw