Relation between risk factor clusters and differences in CIMT (Overall).

<p><b>Each cluster was compared to individuals without any risk factor (reference group).</b> CIMT, mean common carotid intima media thickness. BP, elevated blood pressure; OW, overweight; TC, elevated total cholesterol; smoking, current smoking.For most of the risk factors, the sum of the individual risk factor differences was smaller than the observed mean difference for the cluster in the overall analyses. For example, the mean difference in common CIMT for the blood pressure—smoking cluster was 0.077 mm, whereas the sum of the individual risk factors was 0.053 (i.e., 0.031 + 0.022). A similar finding was found for the smoking-blood pressure- overweight cluster. This observation suggests synergetic effects of risk factors on CIMT.