Central Versus Peripheral Artery Stiffening and Cardiovascular Risk

Assessment of Carotid Arterial Stiffness in Community Settings With ARTSENS®

OBJECTIVE

We investigate the field feasibility of carotid stiffness measurement using ARTSENS® Touch and report the first community-level data from India.

METHOD

In an analytical cross-sectional survey among 1074 adults, we measured specific stiffness index ([Formula: see text]), pressure-strain elastic modulus ([Formula: see text]), arterial compliance (AC), and one-point pulse wave velocity (PWV[Formula: see text]) from the left common carotid artery. Data for established risk factors (waist circumference, blood pressure, plasma glucose, triglycerides, and HDL-C) were also collected. The association of carotid stiffness with age, gender, hypertension/diabetes, smoking, and clustering of risk factors was studied.

RESULTS

Measurements were repeatable with a relative difference (RD) between consecutive readings of < 5% for blood pressure and < 15% for [Formula: see text]% of arterial diameter values. The average RDs for [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text], AC, and PWV[Formula: see text], were 20.51%, 22.31%, 25.10%, and 14.13%, respectively. Typical range for stiffness indices among females and males were [Formula: see text]: 8.12 ± 3.59 vs 6.51 ± 2.78, [Formula: see text]: 113.24 ± 56.12 kPa vs 92.33 ± 40.65 kPa, PWV[Formula: see text]: 6.32 ± 1.38 ms-1 vs 5.81 ± 1.16 ms-1, and AC: 0.54 ± 0.36 mm2 kPa-1 vs 0.72 ± 0.38 mm2 kPa-1. Mean [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text], and PWV[Formula: see text] increased (and mean AC decreased) across decades of age; the trend persisted even after excluding hypertensives and subjects with diabetes. The odds ratio of presence of multiple risk factors for [Formula: see text] kPa and/or PWV[Formula: see text] ms-1 was ≥ 2.12 or above in males. In females, it was just above 2.00 for [Formula: see text] kPa and/or PWV[Formula: see text] ms-1 and increased to ≥ 3.33 for [Formula: see text] kPa and ≥ 3.25 for PWV[Formula: see text] ms-1.

CONCLUSION

The study demonstrated the feasibility of carotid stiffness measurement in a community setting. A positive association between the risk factors and carotid artery stiffness provides evidence for the device's use in resource-constrained settings. Clinical Impact: The device paves the way for epidemiological and clinical studies that are essential for establishing population-level nomograms for wide-spread use of carotid stiffness in clinical practice and field screening of 'at-risk' subjects.

Central blood pressure and aortic pulse wave reflection in water-exercised postmenopausal hypertensive women: A cross-sectional study

Exercise training has been associated with the attenuation of cardiovascular impairment after menopause. This study aimed to compare central and peripheral blood pressure and aortic pulse wave reflection in sedentary and trained (aerobic exercise in the water) hypertensive postmenopausal women. Hypertensive postmenopausal women were divided into sedentary (SED, n = 53) and trained groups (TR, n = 31). Self-reporting from the trained group presented a mean of 1.7 ± 0.3 years of exercise practice in the water. Central blood pressure and amplification indexes (AIx) were obtained by the applanation tonometry of radial and aortic arteries. No changes were observed in systolic blood pressure (SBP) in the TR group than the SED group; however, office diastolic blood pressure (DBP) was reduced compared to the SED group. Central blood pressure and augmentation index (AIx@75%) values were similar in the SED and TR groups. These data suggest that self-reported long-term exercise training in the water could not improve central hemodynamic variables in postmenopausal hypertensive women compared to sedentary ones. However, it should be emphasized that DBP levels were reduced in trained subjects, which might reduce cardiovascular outcomes.

Detection of localized pulsatile motion in cutaneous microcirculation by speckle decorrelation optical coherence tomography angiography

SIGNIFICANCE

Pulsatility is a vital characteristic of the cardiovascular system. Characterization of the pulsatility pattern locally in the peripheral microvasculature is currently not readily available and would provide an additional source of information, which may prove important in understanding the pathophysiology of arterial stiffening, vascular ageing, and their linkage with cardiovascular disease development.

AIM

We aim to confirm the suitability of speckle decorrelation optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) under various noncontact/contact scanning protocols for the visualization of pulsatility patterns in vessel-free tissue and in the microvasculature of peripheral human skin.

RESULTS

Results from five healthy subjects show distinct pulsatile patterns both in vessel-free tissue with either noncontact or contact imaging and in individual microvessels with contact imaging. Respectively, these patterns are likely caused by the pulsatile pressure and pulsatile blood flow. The pulse rates show good agreement with those from pulse oximetry, confirming that the pulsatile signatures reflect pulsatile hemodynamics.

CONCLUSIONS

This study demonstrates the potential of speckle decorrelation OCTA for measuring localized peripheral cutaneous pulsatility and defines scanning protocols necessary to undertake such measurements. Noncontact imaging should be used for the study of pulsatility in vessel-free tissue and contact imaging with strong mechanical coupling in individual microvessels. Further studies of microcirculation based upon this method and protocols are warranted.