IGFBP3 and carotid atherosclerosis: Circulating level of IGFBP3 has been shown to be associated with hypertension, stroke, carotid atherosclerosis and several cardiovascular disease risk factors (Schwab et al., 1997; Watanabe et al., 2003; Kawachi et al., 2005; Capoluongo et al., 2006; Kaplan et al., 2007; Lam et al., 2010; Ebinger et al., 2015).