The Relationship between Arterial Stiffness Assessed by CAVI and Cardiac Function and Structure

Abstract

The cardio-ankle vascular index (CAVI) assesses newly developed arterial stiffness. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between CAVI and cardiac function and structure. The subjects were 543 consecutive patients who had undergone CAVI measurement and transthoracic Doppler echocardiography in the same day. Patients were divided into 3 groups using CAVI curves to exclude the influence of sex and physiological age; higher than mean+SD (group H), within mean±SD (group M), lower than mean-SD (group L). We measured left ventricular (LV) ejection fraction, transmitral flow velocity and the mitral annular velocity. High CAVI levels were noted as an increased risk factor for atherosclerosis. There was no relationship between CAVI and ejection fraction. In contrast, LV diastolic function was related with the CAVI. The e’ wave, E/A and e’/a’ of group H were significantly lower than group M and group L. Concerning the cardiac structural parameters, CAVI was enhanced in patients with LA dilatation and LV hypertrophy compared with patients without them. From results of the multivariate regression analysis it was confirmed that the CAVI was influenced by age, atherosclerotic risk factors, related e’ wave and LV wall thickness. The study revealed that an increased CAVI was related with LV diastolic dysfunction and remodeling of cardiac structure. Arterial stiffness assessed by CAVI may be a useful parameter to evaluate ventriculo-arterial coupling.