Beijing Anzhen Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing Institute of Heart Lung and Blood Vessel Disease, Beijing, 100029, People's Republic of China.
BMC Cardiovasc Disord. 2012 Dec 7;12:119. doi: 10.1186/1471-2261-12-119.
Brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV), which reflects the stiffness of both central and peripheral muscular arteries, has been frequently used as a simple index for assessing arterial stiffness. The aim of the present study was to investigate the prevalence of arterial stiffness in North China based on baPWV measurements, and explore the associations between increased arterial stiffness and risk factors of cardiovascular diseases (CVD).
Twenty-three community populations were established in North China. For each participant, parameters for calculating baPWV, including blood pressures and pressure waveforms, were measured using a non-invasive automatic device. All participants were required to respond to an interviewer-led questionnaire including medical histories and demographic data, and to receive blood tests on biochemical indictors.
A total of 2,852 participants were finally investigated. Among them, 1,201 people with low burden of CVD risk factors were chosen to be the healthy reference sample. The cut-off point of high baPWV was defined as age-specific 90th percentile of the reference sample. Thus, the prevalence of high baPWV was found to be 22.3% and 26.4% in men and women respectively. After adjusted for age, heart rate (HR), systolic blood pressure (SBP), fasting glucose level, and smoking were significantly associated with high baPWV in men; while level of serum total cholesterol (TC), HR, SBP, and diabetes were significantly associated with high baPWV in women.
Based on the age-specific cut-off points, the middle-aged population has a higher prevalence of high baPWV in North China. There exists a difference between men and women in terms of the potential risk factors associated with arterial stiffness.
肱踝脉搏波速度（baPWV）反映了中心和外周肌肉动脉的僵硬程度，常被用作评估动脉僵硬的简单指标。本研究旨在通过 baPWV 测量调查华北地区动脉僵硬的流行情况，并探讨动脉僵硬与心血管疾病（CVD）危险因素之间的关系。
在华北地区建立了 23 个社区人群。对于每个参与者，使用非侵入性自动设备测量计算 baPWV 的参数，包括血压和压力波形。所有参与者都需要回答一个由访谈员主导的问卷，包括病史和人口统计学数据，并接受生化指标的血液测试。
最终共调查了 2852 名参与者。其中，选择了 1201 名低 CVD 危险因素负担的人作为健康参考样本。高 baPWV 的截止点定义为参考样本中年龄特定的第 90 个百分位数。因此，男性和女性的高 baPWV 患病率分别为 22.3%和 26.4%。在校正年龄、心率（HR）、收缩压（SBP）、空腹血糖水平和吸烟后，HR、SBP、空腹血糖水平和吸烟与男性高 baPWV 显著相关；而血清总胆固醇（TC）水平、HR、SBP 和糖尿病与女性高 baPWV 显著相关。
根据年龄特异性截止点，华北地区中年人群高 baPWV 的患病率较高。男性和女性在与动脉僵硬相关的潜在危险因素方面存在差异。
