ObjectiveTo explore the association between hypertriglyceridemic waist (HTGW) and subclinical atherosclerosis among general Chinese population. MethodsPeople who took routine physical exam in the Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital were randomly selected from June 2011 to June 2012. We included those who received carotid artery ultrasonography and denied having symptoms of arterial ischemia, and screened the risk factors of cardiovascular disease (CVD) among them, including waist circumstance (WC) and triglycerides (TG). According to levels of WC and TG, the subjects were divided into three groups:Group I (those with normal levels of WC and TG); Group II (those with elevated levels of WC or TG); and Group Ⅲ (those with elevated WC and TG). ResultsA total of 484 subjects were included with average age of 47.3±11.3 years, of which, 72.1% of the subjects were male. The risk factors of CVD in Group I, Group II and Group III orderly increased, with significant differences. Then the subjects were stratified by age. For the elderly (no less than 60 years, n=75), the morbidities of subclinical atherosclerosis was 73.7% in Group I, 79.3% in Group II, and 70.4% in Group Ⅲ, respectively; and the results of univariate analysis and multivariate analysis showed that, HTGW was poorly associated with subclinical atherosclerosis in the elderly. For the young and middle-aged (less than 60 years, n=409), the morbidities were 19.8% in Group I, 35.1% in Group II, and 36.1% in Group III, respectively; after adjusting the confounding factors, Group II and Group III showed close association with subclinical atherosclerosis in the young and middle-aged when taking Group I as referent, with ORs (Group Ⅱ:1.987, 95%CI 1.073 to 3.679, P=0.029; and Group Ⅲ:2.060, 95%CI 1.020 to 4.161, P=0.044). ConclusionHTGW population has high-level risk factors of CVD which also present a tendency of aggregation. HTGW is closely associated with subclinical atherosclerosis in the young and middle-aged; while in the elderly, HTGW is poorly associated with subclinical atherosclerosis, but the morbidity of subclinical atherosclerosis is higher.