Association of arterial stiffness with serum bilirubin levels in established coronary artery disease.
OBJECTIVE
Elevated serum bilirubin concentrations protect from atherosclerotic diseases, however it is not clear whether or not higher serum bilirubin concentrations have the same effect in coronary artery disease (CAD). The brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV) is a reproducible method to assess arterial stiffness. This study was aimed to investigate the relationship between serum total bilirubin (TB) and baPWV in patients with established CAD.


METHODS
We enrolled 638 patients (390 men, 248 women) with established CAD. TB was divided into tertiles. Simple and multiple linear regression analyses were used to assess the correlation between baPWV and TB.


RESULTS
The mean baPWV tended to decrease in men according to TB tertiles: Tertile 1=2,126.0, Tertile 2=1,832.5, and Tertile 3=1,692.5 cm/s. Likewise, the mean baPWV tended to decrease in women according to TB tertiles: Tertile 1=1,920.8, Tertile 2=1,829.0, and Tertile 3=1,701.3 cm/s. Univariate analysis showed that age, BMI, TB, ALT, GGT, Cho, SBP, DBP, UA, and TC were significantly associated with baPWV in men. In women, age, BMI, current smoker, Cho, SBP, DBP, UA, TC, TG, HDL-C, and LDL-C were significantly associated with baPWV. BMI, LnSBP, UA, TB, LnCho, and LnTC were correlated with baPWV in men in the multivariate model. However, only LnSBP, UA, and LnHDL-C were correlated with baPWV in women. TB was found to be a significant determinant for decreased baPWV only in men (β=-0.136; p<0.001).


CONCLUSIONS
Our findings show that the level of total serum bilirubin is negatively correlated with arterial stiffness in men with established CAD.
Department of Neurology, The Third Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, China.
Cansheng
C
Zhu
Zhaojun
Z
Xiong
Zhenda
Z
Zheng
Yanming
Y
Chen
Xiaohong
X
Chen
Xiaoxian
X
Qian
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D055109:Ankle Brachial Index; D001663:Bilirubin / Q000097:blood*; D003324:Coronary Artery Disease / Q000097:blood* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D059289:Vascular Stiffness / Q000502:physiology*
D001663:Bilirubin