Increased Intima Media Thickness of Common Carotid Artery in Hypertensive and Pre-Hypertensive Patients – A Systematic Review

Background: Adult hypercholesteremic have thicker intima media of the common carotid arteries than controls. Atherosclerotic hypertension (HTN) is a substantial risk factor for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. HTN causes a fourfold rise in the risk of stroke, and this risk is significantly greater when associated with other risk factors that cause fatal conditions.  Objective: To determine the increased thickness of inner lumen of common carotid artery in hypertensive and pre-hypertensive patients. Method & Material: From 2003 to 2019, the following keywords were searched in PubMed, ProQuest, Google Scholar, and Research Gate: pre-hypertension, hypertension, IMT, and carotid arteries. The review only included studies that measured intima-media thickness. independently evaluated titles and abstracts of full-length related publications for inclusion and exclusion. The general consensus was fixed by the reviewer's differences. The included studies on the role of ultrasonography in thickened IMT diagnosis. Applicability and quality of studies were assessed using full-length journal data. After scanning databases, 73 papers were found; 14 were duplicates, 34 were irrelevant or lacking data, and 7 were eliminated based on title and abstract, a total of 18 studies were reviewed. This study excluded systematic reviews and meta-analyses in favor of original research publications. This review studies are all prospective. Result: Intima media thickness increases with hypertension in 18 studies. Age increased the intimal medial thickness (r=0.6, P=.000). Patients with atherothrombotic changes had higher IMT than those without it. Each patient's sensitivity and specificity were averaged out. With or without plaque, ultrasonography had 87.5 sensitivity. Diverse study designs and analysis precluded pooled calculations. Conclusion: IMT increases with ageing. IMT also increases in people with other atherosclerosis symptoms including plaque development. IMT thickening occurs in even normotensive person. However, hypertension has no effect on IMT. Hypertension accelerates the severity of IMT and atherosclerosis.