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

Abstract

Background 

Arterial 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).

Method 

To systematically compare these two methodologies, we conducted a multicenter study involving a total of 2287 patients.

Results 

There 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.

Conclusion 

Collectively, 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.