Background: Stiffness of large arteries has been found to be an independent predictor of adverse cardiovascular events in the general population, in patients with essential hypertension, diabetes mellitus and end-stage renal disease. Of the several indices used to reflect arterial stiffness, aortic pulse wave velocity (AoPWV) is considered to be the gold standard. Determining the normal distribution of AoPWV and AIx of a population is important to apply them clinically. This study therefore aims at determining normal values for arterial stiffness indices in normal Omani subjects.

Method: Augmentation index (AIx) and aortic pulse wave velocity (AoPWV) were measured using applanation tonometry (SphygmoCor®; Atcor medical) in 43 (23 women and 20 men) healthy Omani volunteers.

Result: The mean age of women was 30 ± 9 years and for men was 36 ± 6 years. Reference values were estimated using 97.5 and 2.5 percentiles. The estimated values for AIx corrected for heart rate was -16 to 38 in women and 0 to 26 in men. The AoPWV were 4.6 to 7.1 m/s and 5.2 to 9.6 m/s in women and in men respectively. Men had significantly higher AoPWV compared to women (6.9 ± 0.9 Vs 5.7 ± 0.7, P = 0.001) but there was no significant gender difference in the AIx (11.1 ± 12.2 Vs 10.1 ± 8.3, P = 0.77).

Conclusion: Preliminary data of this study show that men had significantly higher AoPWV than women with no gender difference in the AIx. Recruitment of more subjects is needed to confirm the above findings.