P135 Assessment of Novel Blood Pressure Corrected Cardio-ankle Vascular Index in Response to Acute Blood Pressure Changes

Abstract

Background

Cardio-ankle vascular index (CAVI) has long been considered a measure of arterial stiffness independent of short-term changes in blood pressure (BP) [1]. Recently and theoretically, CAVI was found to be partially affected by actual BP, thus, a novel BP-corrected index, CAVI₀, was proposed to diminish these effects [2,3]. Direct, repeated measures experimental data comparing CAVI’s and CAVI₀’s acute blood pressure dependence is lacking. Hence, the aim of this study was to assess the effects of short-term changes of BP on CAVI₀ in comparison with standard CAVI.

Methods

60 healthy adults were examined using vascular screening system VaSera 1500 N (Fukuda Denshi Co., Tokyo, Japan) during four examination periods lasting 5 minutes — baseline, cold pressor test (CPT), recovery period, and isometric handgrip exercise (IHE). CAVI and cardiovascular parameters for calculation of CAVI₀ were measured after baseline, at the peak of pressor response to CPT, after recovery period, and at the peak of pressor response to IHE. CAVI, CAVI₀, and mean BP were assessed for all periods.

Results

CAVI significantly increased during CPT compared to baseline rest (p = 0.008), returned to baseline values during recovery period (p = 0.011 compared to CPT), and significantly increased during IHE compared to recovery period (p = 0.002). No significant changes of CAVI₀ were found. CAVI significantly correlated with changes in mean BP (p = 0.012; multilevel regression); CAVI₀ did not (p = 0.570).

Conclusion

In this repeated measures, experimental, acute study, CAVI showed short-term blood pressure dependence, whereas CAVI₀ did not.