Purpose: According to recent evidence, acute inflammation is associated with transiently impaired vascular function and aortic compliance in healthy adults. The relationship between acute inflammatory stimuli and arterial stiffness in patients with stable angina pectoris (SAP) has not been investigated yet.

Methods: We studied the effect of an acute inflammatory stimulus on wave reflections and aortic stiffness, in 13 patients with SAP (mean age 49.4 years, 13 men) and in a control group consisting of 13 healthy adults (mean age 47.2 years, 7 men). We used Salmonella Typhi vaccine to induce an acute, mild, transient and systemic inflammatory response in both groups. cfPWV and AIx were measured at baseline and 8h after vaccination.

Results: Inflammation led to a decrease in AIx, 8h after vaccination in both groups (from 26.2% to 20% in SAP patients, P<0.05, from 31.2% to 22.9% in healthy adults, P<0.05). cfPWV increased in the healthy group after 8h (from 6.70m/sec to 6.96m/sec, P<0.05), however in the SAP group there was no change in aortic stiffness 8h after vaccination (from 8.33m/sec to 8.01m/sec, P=ns).

Conclusions: Acute systemic inflammation has an effect on wave reflection in both healthy and SAP patients, however there is a significant increase of large artery stiffness only in the healthy group, indicating a different behaviour of large arteries in the SAP group, probably due to the atherosclerotic burden present on their arteries. This finding is particularly important for determining possible links between inflammation and arterial function in the setting of coronary heart disease.