title: Parkinson's disease and the cardio-ankle vascular stiffness index.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the relationship between Parkinson's disease (PD) and the cardio-ankle vascular stiffness index (CAVI), a novel non-invasive measurement of vascular stiffness.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 63 PD subjects who underwent CAVI measurement were enrolled, including 30 men and 33 women 69.1±7.5 years of age (range: 46-79 years). Sixty-three non-PD subjects (30 men, 33 women, mean age: 68.7±7.6 years [range: 43-79 years]) served as controls. Comparisons between the control and PD subjects were made using Fisher's protected least significant difference, the Bonferroni-Dunn test, Scheffe's test and the unpaired t-test.
  
  
  RESULTS
  1) The average CAVI values were as follows: control, 9.3±0.9; PD, 9.0±1.0 (p=0.049). The differences in the CAVI values between the groups and the index values (normative data provided internally in the VaSera system) were as follows: control, 0.4±0.8; PD, 0.03±0.9 (p=0.011). The CAVI values of the PD patients were significantly smaller than those of the control subjects. 2) Among the control subjects, the CAVI values in the subjects with atherosclerotic risk factors (hypertension, dyslipidemia and/or diabetes) were significantly higher than those observed in the subjects without risk factors. In contrast, among the PD patients, the CAVI values in the subjects with atherosclerotic risk factors were equivalent to those observed in the subjects without risk factors. 3) Among the PD patients, the CAVI values did not change with the motor stage.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results of the present study show that, compared with control subjects, PD patients exhibit normal CAVI values despite having mild but significant atherosclerotic risk factors, e.g., hypertension and diabetes. These findings suggest that PD patients are less vulnerable to systemic atherosclerosis than their risk factors may suggest.
authors.affiliation: Clinical Physiology Unit, Sakura Medical Center, Toho University, Japan.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.forename: Ryuji
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sakakibara
authors.forename: Fuyuki
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Tateno
authors.forename: Yohei
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tsuyusaki
authors.forename: Masahiko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kishi
authors.forename: Tsuyoshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ogata
authors.forename: Takanobu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tomaru
authors.forename: Kohji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Shirai
authors.forename: Takumi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kurosu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000842:Ankle / Q000098:blood supply; D050197:Atherosclerosis / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001341:Autonomic Nervous System / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006225:Hand / Q000098:blood supply; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000150:complications* / Q000503:physiopathology; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D059289:Vascular Stiffness / Q000502:physiology*