Determinants of pulse wave velocity in healthy people and in the presence of cardiovascular risk factors: 'establishing normal and reference values'.

ABSTRACT:

Aims

Carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (PWV), a direct measure of aortic stiffness, has become increasingly important for total cardiovascular (CV) risk estimation. Its application as a routine tool for clinical patient evaluation has been hampered by the absence of reference values. The aim of the present study is to establish reference and normal values for PWV based on a large European population.

Methods and results

We gathered data from 16 867 subjects and patients from 13 different centres across eight European countries, in which PWV and basic clinical parameters were measured. Of these, 11 092 individuals were free from overt CV disease, non-diabetic and untreated by either anti-hypertensive or lipid-lowering drugs and constituted the reference value population, of

SUBMITTER: Reference Values for Arterial Stiffness' Collaboration 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2948201 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature