Cardiology and Emergency Department, San Antonio Hospital, Udine, Italy.
Department of Cardiology, Dupuytren University Hospital, Limoges, France.
Hypertens Res. 2017 Jul;40(7):685-695. doi: 10.1038/hr.2017.24. Epub 2017 Mar 2.
Arterial stiffness can predict cardiovascular events, and the aim of this study was to produce age- and sex-specific reference values for echo-tracking carotid stiffness in healthy subjects. A total of 900 subjects (500 males, mean age 45.8±19 years) were enrolled. Common carotid artery stiffness and compliance, using a high-definition echo-tracking ultrasound system, were evaluated. To compare stiffness parameters across the different age groups, individual scores were transformed into T-scores, indicating how many standard deviation (s.d.) units an individual's score was above or below the mean that was observed in the group including same-sex individuals aged 36 to 44 years. Carotid stiffness was similar among genders, except compliance, which was lower in women (P<0.0001). These characteristics were also maintained when the studied population was divided into seven age groups. Stiffness parameters increased significantly with age, but the opposite occurred for compliance. The T-score was found to increase significantly across all age groups, with a steeper increase in stiffness around the age of 60 years in women. For each T-score s.d., the corresponding carotid absolute values for arterial stiffness and compliance were obtained. In a multivariate model, carotid stiffness parameters were constantly and independently associated with age, mean arterial pressure, pulse pressure, heart rate and body mass index. Our study provides a normogram of carotid arterial stiffness and compliance indices obtained with the echo-tracking method in a large population of healthy subjects stratified by gender and age that can be used in clinical practice.
动脉僵硬度可预测心血管事件，本研究旨在为健康受试者的回声跟踪颈动脉僵硬度建立年龄和性别特异性参考值。共纳入 900 例受试者（500 例男性，平均年龄 45.8±19 岁）。使用高清晰度回声跟踪超声系统评估颈总动脉僵硬度和顺应性。为了比较不同年龄组之间的僵硬度参数，将个体评分转换为 T 评分，T 评分表示个体评分比包括相同性别、年龄在 36 至 44 岁的个体在内的组的平均值高出或低于多少个标准差（s.d.）单位。除顺应性外，两性之间的动脉僵硬度相似，女性的顺应性较低（P<0.0001）。当将研究人群分为七个年龄组时，这些特征也得以维持。僵硬度参数随年龄显著增加，但顺应性则相反。T 评分在所有年龄组中均显著增加，女性在 60 岁左右的僵硬度增加更为陡峭。对于每个 T 评分 s.d.，可获得相应的颈动脉僵硬度和顺应性的绝对值。在多变量模型中，颈动脉僵硬度参数与年龄、平均动脉压、脉压、心率和体重指数始终独立相关。本研究提供了性别和年龄分层的健康受试者中使用回声跟踪方法获得的颈动脉僵硬度和顺应性指数的正常图表，可用于临床实践。
