ORIGINAL ARTICLES   

International Angiology 2012 June;31(3):252-9

Copyright © 2012 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

lingua: Inglese

Distribution of brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity values and optimal cut-off in distinguishing subjects with clinical condition in Chinese Population

Wu L. ¹, Wang Y. ^{1, 2}, Zheng L. ^{1, 3}, Li J. ¹, Hu D. ¹, Xu Y. ^{1, 2}, Hasimu B. ⁴, Yuan H. ⁵, Yang J. ⁶, Sun Y. ³, Ma Y. ⁷ ✉

¹ Heart, Lung and Blood Vessel Center Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China; ² Department of Cardiology, Tenth People’s Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China; ³ Department of Cardiology, the First Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, China; ⁴ Heart Centre, the First Affiliation Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University, Urumqi, China; ⁵ Department of Cardiology, Xiangya Third Hospital of South Central University, Changsha, China; ⁶ Cardiovascular Center, Fuwai Hospital of Chinese Academy of Medical Science, Beijing, China; ⁷ Division of Preventive and Behavioral Medicine University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, USA

AIM: The present study aims to examine the distribution and gender- and age-specific reference ranges of brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV) in Chinese population.
METHODS: A total of 21094 subjects were recruited into a cross-sectional study from June 2007 to June 2008 in China. Participants were divided into three clinical subgroups: 1) subgroup 1: subjects with atherosclerotic cardiovascular diseases; 2) subgroup 2: subjects with atherosclerotic risk factors; and 3) subgroup 3: “healthy subjects” without any atherosclerotic cardiovascular diseases and atherosclerotic risk factors.
RESULTS: The average baPWV among subgroups one through 3 was 1724.3±429.1, 1603.5±358.8, and 1389.9±288.4 cm/s, respectively. BaPWV did not fit as a normal distribution in both genders. There was no significant difference between male and female for baPWV in subgroup 1 (P>0.05). While baPWV was higher in females than males in subgroup 2, it was lower in females than in males in subgroup 3 (all P<0.05). Notably, BaPWV significantly increased with age in both genders (all P for trend<0.05). The receiver operator characteristic curve demonstrated that a baPWV of 1450 cm/s was useful to discriminate either cardiovascular diseases or atherosclerotic risk factors (sensitivity 62.1%, specificity 69.5%), a baPWV of 1551 cm/s was useful to discriminate cardiovascular diseases (sensitivity 62%, specificity 61%), and a baPWV of 1566 cm/s was useful to discriminate either cardiovascular diseases or chronic kidney disease (sensitivity 60%, specificity 63%).
CONCLUSION: The reference ranges and cut-off values of baPWV can be used to screen atherosclerotic cardiovascular diseases in clinical practices.