P1.13 Ethnic Differences in Wave Intensity and Arterial Stiffness in the Carotid Artery

Abstract

Background

In comparison with Europeans (E) in the UK, Indian Asian (IA) people have a 1.5 to 2-fold elevated risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD), and the risk of stroke is more than 2-fold higher in African Caribbean (AC) people. Arterial stiffness and wave reflections influence the development of CVD. We therefore investigated whether there are ethnic differences in wave intensity and arterial stiffness that might play a role in the increased risk of CVD.

Methods and Results

260 participants, aged 59–82years in the Southall And Brent REvisited (SABRE) population-based study had wave intensity analysis and measurement of stiffness index (β) performed in the left common carotid artery using an Aloka SSD 5500 ultrasound system (ALOKA, Japan) equipped with a 7.5MHz linear array vascular probe and a combined colour Doppler and echo-tracking system. The intensity of the forward compression wave (FCW) due to left ventricular ejection was significantly increased in IA. The peak intensity of the reflected (backward) compression wave (BCW) was significantly larger in AC. β was significantly higher in both IA and AC. The ethnic differences in the FCW and β persisted after adjustment for key CVD risk factors (Model 2).

Conclusion

Both IA and AC have adverse wave intensity and arterial stiffness patterns, independent of conventional CVD risk factors, that may contribute to the increased risk of CVD in IA and AC.

Table 1

Data are presented as mean±SE and ANCOVA was performed to examine differences between ethnic groups; * = p < 0.05, ** = p < 0.01. Model 1: adjusted for age. Model 2: adjusted for age, sex, heart rate, height, smoking status, diabetes, hypertension and CVD.