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Age-related values of aortic pulse wave velocity in healthy subjects measured by Doppler echocardiography

Journal of Human Hypertension volume 35, pages 1081–1087 (2021)Cite this article

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Abstract

Aortic pulse wave velocity (aPWV) is a measure of aortic stiffness, which is an indicator of vascular aging and prognostic marker for cardiovascular complications. aPWV can be measured with various methods, but with different reference values depending on the technique used. Therefore, we decided to evaluate age-related values of aPWV, measured by Doppler echocardiography. We included 134 healthy adults (mean age 44.1 ± 13.2 years, 54% of females) divided into five groups based on age decades (D1 21–30 years, n = 29; D2 31–40 years, n = 24; D3 41–50 years, n = 34; D4 51–60 years, n = 25; and D5 61–70 years, n = 22). With the use of a cardiac probe and ECG tracing, ten Doppler waveforms were sequentially recorded, first in the distal aortic arch, and than in the left external iliac artery. Transit time was measured as a delay of the foot of the Doppler waveform in the distal, relative to the proximal location. The distance was measured over the body surface. aPWV was calculated as distance/transit time. Median aPWV in the whole group was 5.05 m/s [4.55–5.99] and did not differ according to sex (females, 5.28 m/s [4.50–6.1] vs. males, 4.95 m/s [4.59–5.77], p = 0.46). Mean aPWV values with 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) for each decade were as follows: D1, 4.54 m/s (4.37–4.72), D2, 4.61 m/s (4.36–4.87), D3, 5.11 m/s (4.89–5.33), D4, 6.04 m/s (5.63–6.45), and D5, 6.77 m/s (6.35–7.19). We report age-related values of aPWV, in a healthy population, measured by Doppler echocardiography. This may be helpful in future research exploring the associations between aortic stiffness, cardiac function, and cardiovascular risk.

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Fig. 1: Schematic presentation of Doppler echocardiography assessment of aPWV.
Fig. 2: Aortic pulse wave velocity (aPWV) mean values (+/−CI) according to the age.
Fig. 3: Aortic pulse wave velocity (aPWV) values in healthy subjects of similar age from three independent studies using different aPWV methodology.

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  1. Department of Internal Medicine, Hypertension and Angiology, Medical University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland

    Grzegorz Styczynski, Katarzyna Cienszkowska, Marta Ludwiczak & Cezary Szmigielski

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Styczynski, G., Cienszkowska, K., Ludwiczak, M. et al. Age-related values of aortic pulse wave velocity in healthy subjects measured by Doppler echocardiography. J Hum Hypertens 35, 1081–1087 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41371-020-00466-4

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