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Updated: Aug 13, 2026

Measuring the Carotid to Femoral Pulse Wave Velocity (Cf-PWV) to Evaluate Arterial Stiffness
05:51

Measuring the Carotid to Femoral Pulse Wave Velocity (Cf-PWV) to Evaluate Arterial Stiffness

Published on: May 3, 2018

Carotid and aortic stiffness: determinants of discrepancies

Anna Paini1, Pierre Boutouyrie, David Calvet

  • 1Department of Pharmacology, Hôpital Européen Georges Pompidou, INSERM U652, Université Paris-Descartes, Faculté de Médecine, Paris, France.

Hypertension (Dallas, Tex. : 1979)
|February 1, 2006
PubMed

Insights

Aortic stiffness and carotid stiffness diverge with increasing cardiovascular risk factors. Aging primarily explains these discrepancies, with the aorta stiffening more than the carotid artery in hypertensive and diabetic patients.

Area of Science:

  • Cardiovascular Medicine
  • Biomedical Engineering
  • Gerontology

Background:

  • Aortic stiffness predicts cardiovascular events, but carotid stiffness data are inconsistent.
  • Understanding discrepancies between aortic and carotid stiffness is crucial for risk assessment.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To analyze factors explaining discrepancies between aortic and carotid stiffness.
  • To compare arterial stiffness measurements across populations with varying cardiovascular risk.

Main Methods:

  • Carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity measured aortic stiffness.
  • High-resolution echotracking and applanation tonometry assessed common carotid stiffness.
  • Multivariate analysis identified determinants of discrepancies between aortic and carotid stiffness.

Main Results:

  • Correlation between aortic and carotid stiffness weakened with increased cardiovascular risk factors (r² decreased from 0.41 to 0.11).
  • Discrepancies between aortic and carotid stiffness increased with cardiovascular risk factors, primarily explained by aging (11% in normotensives, 22% in hypertensives, 45% in T2D).
  • In hypertension and type 2 diabetes, the aorta stiffened more than the carotid artery with age and risk factors.

Conclusions:

  • Carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity and carotid stiffness reflect aging's impact on large artery stiffness similarly in healthy individuals.
  • In hypertensive and diabetic patients, aortic and carotid stiffness measurements provide different information regarding aging and cardiovascular risk.
  • The aorta may stiffen disproportionately more than the carotid artery in the presence of hypertension and diabetes.

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