Brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity is an independent predictor of carotid artery atherosclerosis in the elderly

Objective Brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (BAPWV) is widely used as a simple noninvasive measure of arterial stiffness. The aim of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of BAPWV as a predictor of the carotid artery atherosclerosis in the elderly. Methods A total of 721 elderly participants (mean ± SD, 70.3 ± 5.6years) were enrolled in the current study. All participant underwent both BAPWV measurement and B-mode ultrasound for the intima-media thickness. Carotid atherosclerosis (CAS) was defined as the present of carotid plaque or and/or intima media thickness for at least 1.1 mm. Results A multivariate logistic regression analysis reveals that age, sex, brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity, smoking and LDL-C level showed a significant correlation with the presence of CAS. The odds ratios of CAS associated with a 500 cm/s increase of brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity were 2.378 [95% confidence interval, 1.36 to 4.00, P < 0.05], 3.733 [95% confidence interval, 1.729 to 8.058, P < 0.01], 4.438 [95% confidence interval, 1.659 to 11.803, P < 0.01]. The BAPWV significantly correlated with IMT by bivariate correlation analysis (r = 0.39; P = 0.001). After adjusting for factors influencing, BAPWV all the same correlated with IMT (r = 0.35; P = 0.001). Conclusion These results indicate that brachial-ankle PWV is an independent predictor of CAS in the elderly.It also means that the direct measurement of arterial stiffness by this simple method may be of great help for the evaluation of carotid artherosclerosis , at least in the elderly.