Such treatment includes control of high blood pressure and high blood cholesterol, weight loss, increased physical activity, and aspirin and other drug therapies, he added. Heart disease and stroke are the first and third leading causes of death among Americans. Each year, about 500,000 Americans die of coronary heart disease and about 160,000 of stroke. One in five Americans has some form of cardiovascular disease. Ultrasonography is a relatively inexpensive, painless test in which sound waves above the range of human hearing are sent into the neck.
Echoes bounce off the moving blood and the tissue in the artery and are then formed into an image.
The test is currently used in stroke prevention to diagnose advanced disease in the carotid arteries. The new study found that the test detects disease much earlier and identifies those at risk of heart attack as well as stroke. CHS centers are in California, Maryland, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania. About 40 percent of the ultrasound study's participants were men and 60 percent women. Participants were followed for an average of 6.2 years.