Correlation between cardio-ankle vascular index and biomarkers of oxidative stress

Arterial stiffness is a pathological event related to arteriosclerosis that is also closely related to oxidative stress. The cardio-ankle vascular index (CAVI) is a novel arteriosclerotic index that has been used to detect arterial stiffness. However, the association between CAVI and oxidative stress has not yet been elucidated, especially in patients with risk of metabolic disorders. The aim of this study was to investigate the correlation between arterial stiffness by CAVI and biomarkers of oxidative stress. A total of 83 participants were enrolled in this study. Venous blood samples were collected for measurement of plasma oxidative biomarkers. All participants were examined for CAVI score. The univariate analysis showed that age (p < 0.001), systolic blood pressure (SBP) (p = < 0.001), plasma triglyceride (p = 0.02), plasma glucose (p = 0.003) are related to CAVI value. However, the multivariate analysis showed that age was the only significant independent factor related to the CAVI value. In addition, the CAVI and plasma malondialdehyde (MDA) levels showed a positive correlation (r = 0.29, p < 0.01) while, the CAVI was negatively correlated with catalase (CAT) (r = -0.4, p < 0.001) and GPx (r = -0.60, p < 0.001). In conclusion, this study demonstrated that age is the most influential factor for assessing arterial stiffness by the CAVI method, which is possibly due to the increase in oxidative stress.