Brachial artery diameter is related to cardiovascular risk factors and intima-media thickness
S Holewijn1, M den Heijer, D W Swinkels
1Department of General Internal Medicine, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands. s.holewijn@aig.umcn.nl
Insights
Brachial artery diameter (BAD) shows potential for cardiovascular risk prediction, unlike flow-mediated dilatation (FMD). BAD correlates with risk factors and disease, suggesting its utility in assessing cardiovascular health in middle-aged individuals.
Area of Science:
- Vascular biology and cardiovascular disease research.
- Diagnostic imaging and risk stratification in cardiology.
- Public health and epidemiology of atherosclerosis.
Background:
- Inconsistent findings exist regarding flow-mediated dilatation (FMD) for cardiovascular (CV) risk prediction.
- Limited data exists for nitroglycerin-mediated dilatation (NMD), but brachial artery diameter (BAD) has emerged as a potential predictor.
- The relationship between FMD, BAD, NMD, CV risk factors, and intima-media thickness (IMT) requires further investigation in community-based populations.
Purpose of the Study:
- To determine the relationship between FMD, BAD, and NMD with established CV risk factors.
- To assess the association of FMD, BAD, and NMD with intima-media thickness (IMT), a marker of atherosclerosis.
- To evaluate the predictive value of FMD, BAD, and NMD for prevalent cardiovascular disease (CVD) within a community-based cohort.
Main Methods:
- Ultrasonic measurements of FMD, BAD in the brachial artery, and IMT in the common carotid artery were performed.
- NMD was also measured ultrasonically in the brachial artery.
- Data from 337 participants aged 50-70 years, including traditional clinical and biochemical parameters, were analyzed.
Main Results:
- FMD and NMD showed no significant correlation with most CV risk factors or prevalent CVD.
- Both IMT and BAD demonstrated significant correlations with CV risk factors and prevalent CVD.
- BAD and NMD correlated with IMT, while FMD did not significantly improve IMT prediction by CV risk factors.
Conclusions:
- FMD and NMD were not associated with known CV risk factors or prevalent CVD in this study.
- FMD was not correlated with IMT, a surrogate marker for atherosclerosis.
- BAD emerged as a potentially valuable tool for CV risk prediction in middle-aged, low-risk populations, outperforming FMD in this context.
Background:
Previous reports showed inconsistent results about the potential role of flow-mediated dilatation (FMD) in cardiovascular(CV) risk prediction. Few data are available about the role of nitroglycerin-mediated dilatation (NMD), but recently, brachial artery diameter(BAD) appeared to have predictive value in CV risk prediction.We determined the relation of FMD, BAD and NMD with known CV risk factors and intima-media thickness (IMT), a well-established surrogate marker of atherosclerosis, in a community-based population, the Nijmegen Biomedical Study (NBS).
Materials And Methods:
FMD, BAD and NMD were measured in the brachial, and IMT in the common carotid artery ultrasononically in 337 participants, aged 50-70 years. Traditional clinical and biochemical parameters were determined.
Results:
Both FMD and NMD were not correlated with most CV risk factors or prevalent CVD. However, both IMT and BAD did show significant correlations with CV risk factors. In accordance, both IMT and BAD were significantly correlated with prevalent CVD (r=0.62 and r=-0.37, respectively) . Furthermore, FMD was not correlated with IMT and did hardly (R2=1.1%) improve the prediction of IMT by CV risk factors in regression analysis. However, both BAD and NMD did correlate with IMT (r=-0.29 and r=0.25, respectively).
Conclusion:
In our study, FMD and NMD were not related to known CV risk factors and prevalent CVD, and FMD was not correlated with IMT, a surrogate marker of atherosclerosis. Most intriguingly, BAD was significantly correlated with some CV risk factors, prevalent CVD and IMT. So, BAD is a potential valuable tool in CV risk prediction in middle-aged low-risk populations, whereas FMD is not.
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