Carotid atherosclerosis and aortic stiffness in masters athletes: Multimodality vascular phenotyping from the Master@Heart study.

Authors

Rik Pauwels, Christophe Dausin, Ruben De Bosscher, Jarne De Paepe, Youri Bekhuis, Boris Delpire, Kasper Favere, Jürgen Duchenne, Thijs M H Eijsvogels, Peter Sinnaeve, Steven Dymarkowski, Olivier Ghekiere, Tatiana Kuznetsova, Caroline M Van De Heyning, Paul L Van Herck, Tomas Robyns, Lieven Herbots, André La Gerche, Hein Heidbuchel, Rik Willems, Guido Claessen

Published in

American journal of preventive cardiology. Volume 31. Pages 101771. Epub Jul 25, 2026.

Abstract

Middle-aged male Masters athletes exhibit a higher burden of coronary atherosclerosis on coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) compared with healthy controls. Whether this is accompanied by differences in carotid atherosclerosis or aortic stiffness remains uncertain. We assessed carotid atherosclerosis and aortic stiffness across groups, association between carotid atherosclerosis and coronary disease, and the incremental value of carotid plaque beyond traditional risk factors.
In this cross-sectional analysis of the Master@Heart study, 549 low cardiovascular risk men (median age 55 [50-60] years), including lifelong athletes, late-onset athletes, and healthy controls, underwent vascular phenotyping. Carotid plaque was assessed by ultrasound, aortic stiffness by carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (PWV), and coronary atherosclerosis by CCTA. Group differences were assessed using chi-square and Kruskal-Wallis tests. Association between carotid and coronary atherosclerosis was evaluated using regression models. Incremental discriminatory value was assessed using ROC curve analysis.
Prevalence of ≥1 carotid plaque did not differ between lifelong athletes, late-onset athletes, and controls (29.5%vs. 33.2% vs. 27.9%; p = 0.54). Carotid stenosis ≥50% was rare (1.2%-2.7%) and similar across groups (p = 0.54). Median PWV did not differ between groups (p = 0.29). Carotid plaque was associated with coronary atherosclerosis on CCTA. However, adding carotid plaque to traditional risk factors did not improve discrimination of coronary atherosclerosis.
In middle-aged male Masters athletes, excess subclinical coronary atherosclerosis is observed without corresponding differences in carotid plaque or aortic stiffness. Although carotid plaque is associated with coronary atherosclerosis, it does not meaningfully improve risk discrimination beyond traditional risk factors.

PMID:
42893206
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 18 Oct 2026.

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