Department of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
Psychophysiology. 2021 Jul;58(7):e13772. doi: 10.1111/psyp.13772. Epub 2021 Jan 26.
Pulse wave velocity (PWV) is a common measure of arterial stiffness. Non-invasive methods to measure PWV are widely used in biomedical studies of aging and cardiovascular disease, but they are rarely used in psychophysiology. Barriers to wider use include the prohibitive costs of specialized equipment and need for trained technicians (e.g., ultrasonographers). Here, we describe an impedance cardiography method to measure PWV. By this method, impedance signals are dually collected from the thorax and calf. Combined with ensemble averaging of vascular signals, this dual impedance cardiography (d-ICG) method allows for the measurement of aortic flow onset and the arrival time of peripheral pulse waveforms to compute PWV. In a community sample of adults (aged 19-78 years), PWV measured with d-ICG exhibited a strong positive correlation with age. Moreover, age-specific mean PWV values were within the normative reference intervals established by large scale studies using other techniques. PWV derived from d-ICG exhibited high test-retest reliability across several days, as well as excellent inter-rater reliability. Last, PWV exhibited expected associations with known cardiovascular disease risk factors and indicators of autonomic cardiovascular control. d-ICG is an inexpensive and reliable method to assess arterial stiffness.
脉搏波速度（PWV）是动脉僵硬度的常用测量指标。非侵入性的 PWV 测量方法广泛应用于衰老和心血管疾病的生物医学研究中，但在心理生理学中很少使用。更广泛使用的障碍包括专用设备的高昂成本和对训练有素的技术人员（例如超声技师）的需求。在这里，我们描述了一种阻抗心动描记法来测量 PWV。通过该方法，从胸部和小腿同时采集阻抗信号。结合血管信号的集合平均，这种双阻抗心动描记法（d-ICG）允许测量主动脉血流起始和外周脉搏波到达时间，从而计算 PWV。在成年人（19-78 岁）的社区样本中，d-ICG 测量的 PWV 与年龄呈强正相关。此外，特定年龄的平均 PWV 值在使用其他技术的大规模研究建立的正常参考范围内。d-ICG 衍生的 PWV 在几天内具有较高的测试-重测可靠性，以及出色的评分者间可靠性。最后，PWV 与已知的心血管疾病危险因素和自主心血管控制指标呈预期关联。d-ICG 是一种评估动脉僵硬度的经济且可靠的方法。
