Objective: Segmental carotid-femoral pulse-wave velocity (PWV) is a gold standard method for arterial stiffness assessment; recently, a local carotid PWV measurement by ultrasound has been developed. The present study compared the impact of age and established risk factors on carotid and carotid-femoral PWV.
Methods: Three hundred and seven volunteers (167 men; age from 15 to 78 years) free of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, antihypertensive and lipid-lowering treatment underwent sequential measurement of carotid and carotid-femoral PWV.
Results: In the entire study population, both carotid and carotid-femoral PWV were independently associated mainly with age and blood pressure. In individuals more than 50 years old (N = 132, 80 men), carotid-femoral PWV, but not carotid PWV, was also associated with high-density lipoprotein (HDL)-cholesterol and fasting glucose. The annual increase in carotid and carotid-femoral PWV was similar (0.087 ± 0.004 and 0.090 ± 0.005 m/s, respectively; P = 0.69). Carotid PWV increased with age more rapidly in women than in men (0.099 ± 0.005 vs. 0.076 ± 0.005 m/s per year, P < 0.005), whereas carotid-femoral PWV showed a steeper increase in individuals more than 50 years old than individuals aged 50 years or less (0.150 ± 0.019 vs. 0.088 ± 0.007 m/s per year, P = 0.001).
Conclusion: In apparently healthy population, both carotid and carotid-femoral PWV were influenced above all by age and blood pressure. Other established cardiovascular risk factors had a limited impact only on carotid-femoral PWV of older individuals. The age-related increase in carotid and carotid-femoral PWV seemed to follow different patterns; increase in carotid PWV showed age-sex interaction, being steeper in women, whereas increase in carotid-femoral PWV was more prominent in older individuals.