Background: Arterial stiffness and pressure wave reflection are associated with cardiovascular risk. The AIx is the proportion of central aortic pulse pressure that is attributed to the reflected pulse wave. We hypothesise that in a cohort of patients, who have one or more cardiac risk factors, and suspected coronary artery disease; arterial stiffness will be elevated compared to a normal population.
Methods and results: 910 patients presenting for coronary angiography at Westmead Hospital, Sydney, were recruited into the Australian Heart Eye Study (AHES). Brachial blood pressure was recorded (HEM 907, Omron). Radial artery waveforms were measured with a tonometer and pulse wave analysis was used to derive central blood pressures, AP and AIx (SphygmoCor, AtCor Medical). The average values for each decile of age were compared against normal reference ranges derived from 4001 healthy, normotensive individuals (McEniery et al., JACC 2005). The figure shows that while AP is consistent with normal ranges, the AIx is lower than that that of normals, for both genders.
Conclusions: AIx and AP are not significantly increased in a cardiac population, contrary to expectations.
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© 2011 Published by Elsevier Inc.
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