Vascular Stiffness in Senile Patients with Chronic Heart Failure

INTRODUCTION: The study of vascular stiffness is a method of assessing the risk of cardiovascular diseases. One of methods of assessing arterial stiffness is theсardio-ankle vascular index (CAVI), which reflects the extent of structural lesion of vessels. This index has prospects in application for studying vascular stiffness in senile individuals with chronic heart failure (CHF) to identify new predictors of the cardiovascular risk. AIM: To study the parameters of vascular stiffness (cardio-vascular and ankle-brachial indices) in senile patients (75–89 years) with CHF using the volume sphygmography method. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study included 120 patients (87 women and 33 men) with CHF of senile age (mean age 81.3 ± 4.2 years). In all patients, the electrocardiography and sphygmography data were analyzed with assessment of the CAVI and ankle-brachial index. RESULTS: In patients with IV functional class (FC) CHF, the highest CAVI was found on the right exceeding the parameters of II FC CHF and III FC CHF groups by 0.57 and 1.02 units, respectively (p 0.05). The CAVI on the left in patients with IV FC CHF was higher in comparison with II FC CHF and III FC CHF groups by 0.47 and 0.6 units, respectively. There were also identified correlation relationships of vascular stiffness with the age of patients, functional class of chronic heart failure and echocardiographic parameters: left ventricle ejection fraction, left ventricle end-diastolic diameter, left-ventricle end-systolic diameter (p 0.05). CONCLUSION: The cardio-ankle vascular index can be used to assess vascular stiffness in senile patients with CHF and can help determine the risk of cardiovascular diseases. Further studies are needed on a larger sample of patients.