Abstract
Background:
Arterial stiffness is a strong predictor of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Body fat measures such as waist circumference (WC) have been associated with CVD in adulthood.
Objectives:
The objective of this study was to evaluate the association of arterial stiffness, measured by applanation tonometry-Sphygmocor, with WC.
Methods:
Observational study with 240 participants who make routine consultations at the outpatient clinic of a university hospital. Participants were interviewed and had central blood pressure measurements (CBPM), anthropometric parameters, abdominal fat and visceral fat measured. Paired and unpaired t and chi-square tests were used. A significance level of 5% was adopted.
Results:
Of the 240 participants, 51.82% were male with a mean age of 59.71(±14.81) years and a mean WC of 99.87 (11.54) cm. Mean CBPM values were: Central arterial pressure (CAP) = 130.23 (91-223) mmHg, pulse wave velocity (PWV) = 9.8 (5.28-19.6)m/s and Augmentation Index [Amplification Index (AI)] = 29.45 (-14-60). PWV and CAP were highly correlated with WC with p<0.001 and p=0.02, respectively; however, the same positive correlation was not found between WC and AI (p=0.06).
Conclusion:
The present study showed a positive association between WC and arterial stiffness, through the femoral carotid pulse wave velocity (cf-PWV) and AI, being stronger with cf-PWV, suggesting the evaluation of the effect of WC in vascular health as a method of aid in the early treatment of CVD and in the prevention of clinical outcomes.
Keywords:
Cardiovascular Diseases; Atherosclerosis; Blood Pressure; Vascular Stiffness; Waist Circumference; Pulse Wave Analysis; Outcome Assessment; Health Care