The Mayo Clinic is asserting that high blood-pressure and arterial plaque are not significant risk-factors in aneurysm (though they are risk factors for other conditions).
"Atherosclerotic plaques and the risk factors that cause them, including hypertension, classically have been considered important potential causes of the expansion of the aorta," says Bijoy Khandheria, M.D., a Mayo Clinic cardiologist and study author. "Intuitively, it makes sense that high blood pressure would stretch the vessel walls and make them more likely to become enlarged. This study shows that while these risk factors are highly important in a host of diseases and conditions, they are bit players when it comes to causing the dilatation of the aorta that can lead to aneurysm."
