Abstract
BackgroundBoth carotid-femoral (cf) pulse wave velocity (PWV) and brachial-ankle (ba) PWV employ arterial sites that are not consistent with the path of blood flow. Few previous studies have reported the differential characteristics between cfPWV and baPWV by simultaneously comparing these with measures of pure central (aorta) and peripheral (leg) arterial stiffness, i.e., heart-femoral (hf) PWV and femoral-ankle (fa) PWV in healthy populations. We aimed to identify the degree to which these commonly used measures of cfPWV and baPWV correlate with hfPWV and faPWV, respectively, and to evaluate whether both cfPWV and baPWV are consistent with either hfPWV or faPWV in their associations with cardiovascular (CV) risk factors.MethodsA population-based sample of healthy 784 men aged 40–49 (202 white Americans, 68 African Americans, 202 Japanese-Americans, and 282 Koreans) was examined in this cross-sectional study. Four regional PWVs were simultaneously measured by an automated tonometry/plethysmography system.ResultscfPWV correlated strongly with hfPWV (r = .81, P < .001), but weakly with faPWV (r = .12, P = .001). baPWV correlated moderately with both hfPWV (r = .47, P < .001) and faPWV (r = .62, P < .001). After stepwise regression analyses with adjustments for race, cfPWV shared common significant correlates with both hfPWV and faPWV: systolic blood pressure (BP) and body mass index (BMI). However, BMI was positively associated with hfPWV and cfPWV, and negatively associated with faPWV. baPWV shared common significant correlates with hfPWV: age and systolic BP. baPWV also shared the following correlates with faPWV: systolic BP, triglycerides, and current smoking.ConclusionsAmong healthy men aged 40 – 49, cfPWV correlated strongly with central PWV, and baPWV correlated with both central and peripheral PWVs. Of the CV risk factors, systolic BP was uniformly associated with all the regional PWVs. In the associations with factors other than systolic BP, cfPWV was consistent with central PWV, while baPWV was consistent with both central and peripheral PWVs.
Highlights
Both carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (PWV) and brachial-ankle PWV employ arterial sites that are not consistent with the path of blood flow
The PWV values significantly differed by arterial regions (F = 1,200.0, P < .001) (Figure 1). brachial-ankle PWV (baPWV) had the highest value, followed by faPWV, heart-femoral PWV (hf PWV), and Carotidfemoral PWV (cf PWV) (P < .001)
Systolic blood pressure (BP) was uniformly associated with all the regional PWVs. cf PWV was consistent with central hf PWV, while baPWV was consistent with both central and peripheral PWVs in their associations with CV risk factors other than systolic BP
Summary
Both carotid-femoral (cf) pulse wave velocity (PWV) and brachial-ankle (ba) PWV employ arterial sites that are not consistent with the path of blood flow. Increased arterial stiffness is a strong predictor of the risk for cardiovascular disease in patients with hypertension as well as in the general population independent of cardiovascular (CV) risk factors [1,2,3,4]. Arterial stiffness can be noninvasively evaluated by measuring pulse-wave velocity (PWV). Brachial-ankle PWV (baPWV) measured by the Omron oscillometric/plethysmographic system has recently received attention because of its consistently high association with CV risk factors and its ease of use for large-scale population studies [9,10,11,12,13]. Increased baPWV has been reported to be an independent predictor of all-cause mortality in the general population [11], as has cf PWV [3]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
