Low Arterial Stiffness by Pulse Wave Analysis and Aortic Diseases.

Background: The cardio-ankle vascular index (CAVI) is an important marker of arterial stiffness, providing a blood pressure-independent assessment of vascular function. However, the clinical significance of low CAVI values remains unclear. Some connective tissue diseases are associated with aortic diseases due to intrinsic arterial wall abnormalities and may exhibit low CAVI values. This study aimed to investigate whether low CAVI is associated with these connective tissue diseases and succeeding aortic diseases.

Methods and results: This was a single-center, retrospective observational study conducted at Juntendo University Hospital. A total of 17,364 patients aged 20-80 years who underwent arterial stiffness analysis using CAVI were included. Low CAVI was defined as the lowest 2.5 percentile within each sex- and age-specific distribution. The prevalences of aortic diseases (dissection and/or aneurysm) and Marfan syndrome were similar between the between the low CAVI and normal CAVI groups (aortic disease, 3.99% vs. 3.99%, P>0.99; Marfan syndrome, 0.04% vs. 0.07%, P>0.99, for the low and normal CAVI group, respectively).

Conclusions: This study found no evidence that patients with low CAVI had an increased prevalence of aortic dissection, aortic aneurysm, or Marfan syndrome. Further studies are needed to clarify the clinical implications of low CAVI in vascular diseases.