title: Assessment of arterial stiffness in patients with venous thromboembolism: Separate or continuous circuits?
abstract: Objectives The aim of this study is to evaluate the association of venous thromboembolism with arterial stiffness by cardio-ankle vascular index method. Method We included 52 patients with a documented lower extremity venous thromboembolism within the last six months and 52 healthy subjects to this cross sectional observational study. Results Cardio-ankle vascular index (8.58 ± 1.60 versus 7.05 ± 1.44, p < 0.001, respectively) and systolic blood pressure (128.02 ± 7.13 mmHg versus 123.94 ± 8.12 mmHg, p = 0.008, respectively) were significantly higher among patients with venous thromboembolism than controls. Cardio-ankle vascular index was an independent predictor of venous thromboembolism in multivariate logistic regression analysis (p < 0.001, odds ratio = 1.864, 95% confidence interval = 1.370-2.536). Cardio-ankle vascular index value > 7.8 had a sensitivity of 82.7% and a specificity of 80.8% for predicting venous thromboembolism (area under curve = 0.789, 95% confidence interval = 0.698-0.863, p < 0.001) in receiver operating characteristic curve analysis. Conclusion We found that arterial stiffness was increased in patients with venous thromboembolism which highlights the fact that arterial and venous circulation is in continuum and an insult may affect both of these circuits.
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Cardiology, Ahi Evren Chest and Cardiovascular Surgery Education and Research Hospital, Trabzon, Turkey.
authors.forename: Ahmet Çağrı
authors.initials: AÇ
authors.lastname: Aykan
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Cardiology, Ahi Evren Chest and Cardiovascular Surgery Education and Research Hospital, Trabzon, Turkey.
authors.forename: Engin
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Hatem
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Cardiology, Ahi Evren Chest and Cardiovascular Surgery Education and Research Hospital, Trabzon, Turkey.
authors.forename: Ezgi
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kalaycıoğlu
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Cardiology, Ahi Evren Chest and Cardiovascular Surgery Education and Research Hospital, Trabzon, Turkey.
authors.forename: Tayyar
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Gökdeniz
authors.affiliation: 2 Department of Cardiology, Koşuyolu Heart and Research Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Can Yucel
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Karabay
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D055109:Ankle Brachial Index; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D059289:Vascular Stiffness; D054556:Venous Thromboembolism / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*
keywords: Arterial stiffness; cardio-ankle vascular index; deep vein thrombosis; venous thromboembolism