background: carotid ultrasound appears to be useful in the assessment of cardiovascular risk. in this study, we have assessed the carotid intima-media thickness (cimt) in a group of individuals without a history of cardiovascular events. methods: a sample of 431subjects (189 [43.9%] males and 242 [56.1%] females) was obtained from an urban population using a stratifi ed-cluster method in mashha...