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Ultrasound Assessment of Endothelial-Dependent Flow-Mediated Vasodilation of the Brachial Artery in Clinical Research
Published on: October 22, 2014
Correlations between brachial endothelial function and cardiovascular risk factors: a survey of 2,511 Chinese
Ping-Ting Yang1, Hong Yuan1, Ya-Qin Wang1
11 Department of Healthy Management Center, 2 The Center of Clinical Pharmacology, The Third Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha 410013, China.
Insights
Cardiovascular risk factors like age, BMI, and blood pressure negatively impact brachial artery flow-mediated dilatation (FMD) in Chinese adults. Endothelial function, measured by FMD, is significantly influenced by these factors, especially in women.
Area of Science:
- Cardiovascular research
- Endocrinology
- Public health
Background:
- Cardiovascular risk factors (CVRF) are associated with endothelial dysfunction.
- Brachial artery flow-mediated dilatation (FMD) is a key indicator of endothelial function.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between various cardiovascular risk factors and brachial artery flow-mediated dilatation (FMD) in a Chinese adult population.
- To identify independent predictors of impaired FMD in this cohort.
Main Methods:
- Cross-sectional study involving 2,511 Chinese adults.
- Data collected on cardiovascular risk factors including age, BMI, waist circumference, blood pressure, lipid profile, glucose, and smoking status.
- Prevalence of hypertension, diabetes, coronary heart disease, and hyperlipidemia was assessed.
Main Results:
- FMD showed significant negative correlations with age, male gender, BMI, waist circumference, systolic blood pressure, fasting glucose, total cholesterol, and smoking.
- Baseline brachial artery diameter was also strongly negatively associated with FMD.
- Age-related decline in FMD was observed in both genders, with a steeper decline after age 40 in women.
Conclusions:
- FMD serves as a valuable marker for cardiovascular risk factors in Chinese subjects.
- Age, gender, BMI, waist circumference, systolic blood pressure, fasting glucose, total cholesterol, smoking, and baseline brachial artery diameter are independent determinants of FMD impairment.
- Cardiovascular risk factors exert a greater influence on endothelial function in women compared to men.
Objective:
We examined the relationship of several cardiovascular risk factors (CVRF) to brachial artery flow-mediated dilatation (FMD) in Chinese subjects.
Methods:
This was a cross-sectional study. In 2,511 Chinese adults (age 46.86±9.52 years, 1,891 men and 620 women) recruited from people who underwent health screening at The Third Xiangya Hospital, patients' CVRF [age, body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), blood pressure (BP), cholesterol parameters, creatinine (Cr), uric acid (UA), glucose level and smoking] and prevalence of present disease (hypertension, diabetes mellitus, coronary heart disease and hyperlipidemia) were investigated.
Results:
Multivariate analysis revealed that FMD negative correlated with age (β=-0.29, P<0.001), gender (β=-0.12, P<0.001), BMI (β=-0.12, P=0.001), WC (β=-0.10, P=0.011), systolic BP (SBP) (β=-0.12, P<0.001), fasting glucose (β=-0.04, P=0.009), total cholesterol (TC) (β=-0.04, P=0.014), smoking (β=-0.05, P=0.003), and baseline brachial artery diameter (β=-0.35, P<0.001). FMD decreased with increasing age in both genders. In women, FMD was higher than men and age-related decline in FMD was steepest after age 40; FMD was similar in men above 55 years old.
Conclusions:
In Chinese subjects, FMD may be a usefully marker of CVRF. Age, gender, BMI, WC, SBP, fasting glucose, TC, smoking, and baseline brachial artery diameter were independent variables related to the impairment of FMD. The influence of CVRF on endothelial function is more in women than men.

