NEW YORK, Aug 15 (Praxis Press) Ultrasound measurements of carotid arterial intimal-medial thickness, a measure of atherosclerosis, are increasingly used as cardiovascular endpoints in clinical studies, but the association of carotid atherosclerosis and major coronary risk factors is unknown. Mannami and colleagues evaluated the relationship between major coronary risk factors (hypertension, smoking, and hypercholesterolemia) and ultrasound measures of carotid atherosclerosis in 3,998 Japanese men and women. Compared with subjects without major risk factors, men with one, two, and three major risk factors had 3.2%, 6.3%, and 15.8% higher mean carotid atherosclerotic index values, respectively. Corresponding values for women with one, two, or three major risk factors were 2.9%, 6.2%, and 15.4%, respectively. As the number of coronary risk factors increased, the percentage of subjects with stenosis of at least 50% also increased; however, this severe stenosis was significantly more common in men than in women for any given number of risk factors. Although the accumulation of major coronary risk factors is associated with carotid atherosclerosis in both men and women, there is a gender-specific difference in the progression of the disease.