Association between Arterial Stiffness and Coronary Atherosclerosis in the Elderly

Shin, Yung Woo

Abstract

BACKGROUND: While increased arterial stiffness is known to be related to atherosclerosis, the association between arterial stiffness and atherosclerotic coronary artery disease(CAD) has not been fully evaluated. The purposes of this study was to determine the relationship of pulse wave velocity(PWV) reflecting arterial stiffness and atherosclerotic CAD in the elderly. METHODS: PWV were assessed in three hundred and nineteen consecutive elderly patients(167men, 152 women) who underwent coronary angiography because of suspected CAD. We examined the association between PWV and coronary angiographic findings. RESULTS: Increased heart-femoral PWV was associated with high incidence of atherosclerotic CAD(p=0.001) and severity of CAD(p=0.023). Heart-femoral PWV was only a significant factor among all of PWV in determination of atherosclerotic CAD(p=0.016). The incidence of coronary artery disease was higher in the highest quartile of PWV than in the lowest one(odds ratio 3.6). The receiver operator characteristic curve demonstrated that heart-femoral PWV of 1,200cm/s was useful to discriminate atherosclerotic CAD in the elderly(sensitivity 30%, specificity 82%). CONCLUSION: Herat-femoral PWV is a useful noninvasive test to discriminate CAD and evaluate the severity of CAD in the elderly.