Pulse Wave Velocity Comparing Estimated and Direct Measures of Path Length in Older Women

Authors

Ludovica Bognoni^{1, 2, †,} , Marina Cecelja^{1, *, †}, Tarique Hussain^{3, 4,} , Gerald Greil^{3, 4}, Tim Spector³, Philip Chowienczyk¹, J. Kennedy Cruickshank⁵

¹King’s College London British Heart Foundation Centre, Cardiovascular Division, Department of Clinical Pharmacology, St Thomas’ Hospital, London, UK

²University of Medicine, Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele, Milan, Italy

³King’s College London, Department of Twin Research and Genetic Epidemiology, St Thomas’ Hospital, London, UK

⁴Department of Pediatrics, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas

⁵School of Lifecourse & Nutritional Sciences, King’s College, London and Clinical Research Facility, Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospitals, London, UK

^†

Co-first author.

^*Corresponding author. Email: marina.3.cecelja@kcl.ac.uk

DOI

10.2991/artres.k.200819.001How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Pulse wave velocity; tonometry; hypertension; arterial stiffness; cardiovascular morbidity; cardiovascular mortality; TwinsUK

Abstract

Background: Carotid-femoral Pulse Wave Velocity (cfPWV) is the gold-standard measure of arterial stiffness. Accuracy of non-invasive cfPWV as meters per second is impeded by surface estimates of aortic length. Our aim was to compare cfPWV measured using distance estimated from surface measurements with distance traced along the length of the aorta using Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) in a cohort of older women.

Methods: Seventy-four women were recruited from the TwinsUK cohort. cfPWV was measured using the SphygmoCor system (SphygmoCor-PWV). The path between carotid and femoral sites was estimated from surface measurements between the sternal notch and femoral artery applanation point. Aortic distance was measured with MRI to obtain MRI-PWV. cfPWV was recalculated using MRI obtained distance.

Results: Mean ± standard deviation SphygmoCor-PWV was 9.9 ± 2.1 m/s and MRI-PWV 7.63 ± 1.97 m/s (mean difference 2.2 ± 1.96 m/s, p < 0.001). Distances were considerably higher using surface measures for the SphygmoCor (55.2 ± 3.0, 95% confidence interval 54.4–55.9 cm) compared with MRI (39.9 ± 3.2, 39.2–40.7 cm) with a mean difference of 15.2 cm (14.3–16.2 cm, p < 0.001). Transit times were also marginally longer with the SphygmoCor. When SphygmoCor-PWV was Recalculated using MRI-obtained aortic distance (rec-PWV), the difference between SphygmoCor-PWV and rec-PWV reduced to 0.5 m/s (7.13 ± 1.46 vs. 7.63 ± 1.97 m/s, p = 0.08).

Conclusion: In these older women, the PWV difference between SphygmoCor and MRI is substantial but reduced when using MRI length estimates. Important differences between PWV measured by Sphygmocor and MRI are mainly due to accuracy of distance measurements, which may need re-addressing in guidelines.

Copyright

© 2020 Association for Research into Arterial Structure and Physiology. Publishing services by Atlantis Press International B.V.

Open Access

This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC 4.0 license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).

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TY  - JOUR
AU  - Ludovica Bognoni
AU  - Marina Cecelja
AU  - Tarique Hussain
AU  - Gerald Greil
AU  - Tim Spector
AU  - Philip Chowienczyk
AU  - J. Kennedy Cruickshank
PY  - 2020
DA  - 2020/08/27
TI  - Pulse Wave Velocity Comparing Estimated and Direct Measures of Path Length in Older Women
JO  - Artery Research
SP  - 236
EP  - 241
VL  - 26
IS  - 4
SN  - 1876-4401
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/artres.k.200819.001
DO  - 10.2991/artres.k.200819.001
ID  - Bognoni2020
ER  -