Utility of estimated pulse wave velocity for assessing vascular stiffness: comparison of methods
- German Aerospace Center, Germany
- University Hospital Cologne, Germany
- University of Málaga, Spain
Abstract
Background: Pulse wave velocity independently predicts cardiovascular risk. Easy to use single cuff oscillometric methods are utilized in clinical practice to estimate pulse wave velocity. We applied the approach in master athletes to assess possible beneficial effects of lifelong exercise on vascular health. Furthermore, we compared single cuff measurements with a two-cuff method in another cohort.
Methods: We obtained single cuff upper arm oscillometric measurements thrice in 129 master athletes aged 35 to 86 years and estimated pulse wave velocity using the ArcSolver algorithm. We applied the same method in 24 healthy persons aged 24 to 55 years participating in a head down tilt bedrest study. In the latter group, we also obtained direct pulse wave velocity measurements using a thigh cuff.
Results: Estimated pulse velocity very highly correlated with age (R2 = 0.90) in master athletes. Estimated pulse wave velocity values were located on the same regression line like values obtained in participants of the head down tilt bed rest study. The modest correlation between estimated and measured PWV (r2 0.40; p<0.05) was attenuated after adjusting for age; the mean difference between pulse wave velocity measurements was 1 m/s.
Conclusion: Estimated pulse wave velocity mainly reflects the entered age rather than true vascular properties and, therefore, failed detecting beneficial effects of life long exercise.
Funding: The AGBRESA-Study was funded by the German Aerospace Center (DLR), the European Space Agency (ESA, contract number 4000113871/15/NL/PG) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA, contract number 80JSC018P0078). FH received funding by the DLR and the German Federal Ministry of Economy and Technology, BMWi (50WB1816). SM, JT and JJ were supported by the Austrian Federal Ministry for Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology, BMK (SPACE4ALL Project, FFG No. 866761).
Data availability
As we obtained personal health data from human subjects, we cannot make their raw data publicly available. However, an interested researcher is able to access the original data by sending a project proposal to the corresponding author. This project proposal will be reviewed by the medical board of the DLR Institute of Aerospace Medicine. If the project is scientifically valuable, the committee decides to what extent the original data can be made available. Commercial research is excluded from this option. The syntax used for statistical analysis and the numerical data used to generate the figures are stored in Dryad: doi:10.5061/dryad.8931zcrsb#
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Estimated pulse wave velocity is of limited utility to assess vascular stiffnessDryad Digital Repository, doi:10.5061/dryad.8931zcrsb.
Article and author information
Author details
Funding
German Federal Ministry of Economy and Technology (50WB1816)
- Fabian Hoffmann
Austrian Federal Ministry for Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology (FFG No. 866761)
- Stefan Möstl
- Jens Tank
- Jens Jordan
The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.
Ethics
Human subjects: All subjects provided informed consent and consent to publish before enrollment. The bedrest study as well as the study in master athletes were approved by the Northrine-Medical-Association (Ärztekammer Nordrhein, 2018143 and 2018171) ethics committee and registered at the German Clinical Trial Register (DRKS00015677 and DRKS00015172)
Copyright
© 2022, Möstl et al.
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.
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Utility of estimated pulse wave velocity for assessing vascular stiffness: comparison of methods
eLife 11:e73428.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.73428
