Brachial‐Ankle Pulse Wave Velocity Versus Its Stiffness Index β‐Transformed Value as Risk Marker for Cardiovascular Disease

Abstract

Background The difference in the predictive ability of the brachial‐ankle pulse wave velocity (ba PWV ) and its stiffness index β‐transformed value (β‐ba PWV , ie, ba PWV adjusted for the pulse pressure) for the development of pathophysiological abnormalities related to cardiovascular disease or future occurrence of cardiovascular disease was examined. Methods and Results In study 1, a 7‐year prospective observational study in cohorts of 3274 men and 3490 men, the area under the curve in the receiver operator characteristic curve analysis was higher for ba PWV than for β‐ba PWV for predicting the development of hypertension (0.73, 95% CI =0.70 to 0.75 versus 0.59, 95% CI =0.56 to 0.62; P <0.01) and/or the development of retinopathy (0.78, 95% CI =0.73 to 0.82 versus 0.66, 95% CI =0.60 to 0.71; P <0.01) by the end of the study period. During study 2, a 3‐year observation period on 511 patients with coronary artery disease, 72 cardiovascular events were confirmed. The C statistics of both markers for predicting the development of cardiovascular events were similar. Conclusions Stiffness index β transformation of the ba PWV may attenuate the significance of the ba PWV as a risk marker for development of pathophysiological abnormalities related to cardiovascular disease in male subjects.