Comparison between carotid-femoral and brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity as measures of arterial stiffness

• Published in: Journal of hypertension Vol. 27; no. 10; pp. 2022 - 2027
• Main Authors: Tanaka, Hirofumi, Munakata, Masanori, Kawano, Yuhei, Ohishi, Mitsuru, Shoji, Tetsuo, Sugawara, Jun, Tomiyama, Hirofumi, Yamashina, Akira, Yasuda, Hisayo, Sawayama, Toshitami, Ozawa, Toshio
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hagerstown, MD Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Inc 01-10-2009; Lippincott Williams & Wilkins
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Ankle Brachial Index; Arterial hypertension. Arterial hypotension; Biological and medical sciences; Blood and lymphatic vessels; Blood Flow Velocity - physiology; Cardiology. Vascular system; Cardiovascular system; Carotid Arteries - physiology; Coronary Artery Disease - diagnosis; Coronary Artery Disease - epidemiology; Coronary Artery Disease - physiopathology; Female; Femoral Artery - physiology; Humans; Hypertension - diagnosis; Hypertension - epidemiology; Hypertension - physiopathology; Investigative techniques of hemodynamics; Investigative techniques, diagnostic techniques (general aspects); Japan - epidemiology; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Pulsatile Flow - physiology; Risk Factors; ROC Curve; United States - epidemiology; Young Adult; United States; Japan; Hypertension; arterial elasticity; vascular assessment; Carotid; Elasticity; Cardiovascular disease; Stiffness; Comparative study; arterial distensibility
• ISSN: 0263-6352; 1473-5598
• DOI: 10.1097/HJH.0b013e32832e94e7

BACKGROUNDArterial stiffness is an important risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (cfPWV) is the most recognized and established index of arterial stiffness. An emerging automatic measure of PWV primarily used in the Asian countries is brachial-ankle PWV (baPWV).
METHODTo systematically compare these two methodologies, we conducted a multicenter study involving a total of 2287 patients.
RESULTSThere was a significant positive relation between baPWV and cfPWV (r = 0.73). Average baPWV was approximately 20% higher than cfPWV. Both cfPWV and baPWV were significantly and positively associated with age (r = 0.56 and 0.64), systolic blood pressure (r = 0.49 and 0.61), and the Framingham risk score (r = 0.48 and 0.63). The areas under the receiver operating curves (ROCs) of PWV to predict the presence of both stroke and coronary artery disease were comparable between cfPWV and baPWV.
CONCLUSIONCollectively, these results indicate that cfPWV and baPWV are indices of arterial stiffness that exhibit similar extent of associations with cardiovascular disease risk factors and clinical events.