Pulse wave velocity predicts cardiovascular mortality: findings from the Hawaii-Los Angeles-Hiroshima study.
BACKGROUND
Arterial stiffness measurements, generally from pulse wave velocity (PWV), are widely used with little knowledge of their relationship to long-term cardiovascular mortality in general populations.


RESULTS
We studied a cohort of 492 Japanese-Americans living in Hawaii (mean age: 63.7 +/-8.8 years) to assess the relationship between PWV and cardiovascular disease mortality and all-cause mortality. During the 10-year follow-up, 43 patients died (14 from cardiovascular events). The cohort was divided into 2 groups by the cut-off value of PWV (9.9 m/s) represented in the receiver operating characteristic curve. The risk ratio for PWV values >9.9 m/s to all-cause mortality was 1.28 [95% confidence interval (CI): 1.14-1.42], and adjusted for other risk factors this ratio was 1.42 (95% CI: 0.96-2.11). The corresponding risk ratios for cardiovascular mortality was 4.46 (95% CI: 1.61-12.32) and 4.24 (95% CI: 1.39-12.96), respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
The present study demonstrated that an increased PWV value is associated with future cardiovascular disease death in Japanese-Americans living in Hawaii.
Shokawa
Tomoki
T
Department of Molecular and Internal Medicine, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Hiroshima University, Japan. shokawa@hiroshima-u.ac.jp
Imazu
Michinori
M
Yamamoto
Hideya
H
Toyofuku
Mamoru
M
Tasaki
Naohito
N
Okimoto
Tomokazu
T
Yamane
Kiminori
K
Kohno
Nobuoki
N
D000368:Aged; D000569:Americas / Q000453:epidemiology; D001012:Aorta, Abdominal / Q000502:physiology; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000401:mortality*; D002423:Cause of Death; D015331:Cohort Studies; D004562:Electrocardiography; D004568:Electrodiagnosis / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D005260:Female; D005263:Femoral Artery / Q000502:physiology; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan / Q000208:ethnology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011673:Pulsatile Flow; D011674:Pulse; D012372:ROC Curve; D012307:Risk Factors; D016019:Survival Analysis