title: Non-invasive aortic systolic pressure and pulse wave velocity estimation in a primary care setting: An in silico study.
abstract: Everyday clinical cardiovascular evaluation is still largely based on brachial systolic and diastolic pressures. However, several clinical studies have demonstrated the higher diagnostic capacities of the aortic pressure, as well as the need to assess the aortic mechanical properties (e.g., by measuring the aortic pulse wave velocity). In order to fill this gap, we propose to exploit a set of easy-to-obtain physical characteristics to estimate the aortic pressure and pulse wave velocity. To this aim, a large population of virtual subjects is created by a validated mathematical model of the cardiovascular system. Quadratic regressive models are then fitted and statistically selected in order to obtain reliable estimations of the aortic pressure and pulse wave velocity starting from the knowledge of the subject age, height, weight, brachial pressure, photoplethysmographic measures and either electrocardiogram or phonocardiogram. The results are very encouraging and foster clinical studies aiming to apply a similar technique to a real population.
authors.affiliation: DIATI, Politecnico di Torino, Italy; Vall d'Hebron Institute of Research (VHIR), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain. Electronic address: andrea.guala@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Guala
authors.affiliation: DIATI, Politecnico di Torino, Italy.
authors.forename: Carlo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Camporeale
authors.affiliation: DIATI, Politecnico di Torino, Italy.
authors.forename: Luca
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ridolfi
authors.affiliation: Mathematical Biology and Physiology, Department of Electronics and Telecommunications, Politecnico di Torino, Italy.
authors.forename: Luca
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Mesin
mesh_terms: D062186:Arterial Pressure; D003198:Computer Simulation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008955:Models, Cardiovascular; D011320:Primary Health Care; D063177:Pulse Wave Analysis; D013599:Systole / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: Aortic pressure; Cardiovascular system; Hemodynamics; Mathematical model; Pulse wave velocity