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Updated: Feb 15, 2026
Pulse Wave Velocity Testing in the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging
Published on: February 7, 2014
Arterial pathophysiology and comparison of two devices for pulse wave velocity assessment in elderly men: the British
Elizabeth A Ellins1, Kirsten E Smith1, Lucy T Lennon2
1Institute of Life Sciences, Swansea University Medical School, Swansea, UK.
Insights
This study found that non-invasive vascular measurements are reproducible in elderly men. However, carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (cfPWV) measurements differed between two devices, possibly due to how transit times were calculated.
Area of Science:
- Gerontology
- Cardiovascular Medicine
- Biomedical Engineering
Background:
- Vascular disease is common in older adults.
- Assessing arterial stiffness is crucial for cardiovascular risk assessment.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate arterial phenotype in elderly men.
- To compare carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (cfPWV) measurements using Sphygmocor (S) and Vicorder (V) devices.
Main Methods:
- 1722 elderly men (72-92 years) underwent ultrasound for cIMT, distensibility, and plaque assessment.
- Carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (cfPWV) and ankle-brachial pressure index (ABPI) were measured.
- 123 men had reproducibility assessments.
Main Results:
- All measures showed good reproducibility.
- cfPWV measured by Sphygmocor (S) was higher than by Vicorder (V) (mean difference 0.23 m/s).
- Discrepancies in cfPWV were related to device-specific calculation methods for transit times.
Conclusions:
- Non-invasive vascular phenotyping is feasible and reproducible in elderly men.
- Differences between cfPWV devices may stem from distinct methods of calculating transit times.
- Further research is needed to understand the clinical implications of these measurement discrepancies.
Objective:
Vascular disease is highly prevalent in the elderly. This study aimed to evaluate arterial phenotype in elderly men and compare carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (cfPWV) assessed by two techniques (Sphygmocor (S)and Vicorder (V)).
Methods:
1722 men (72-92 years), participants in the British Regional Heart Study, underwent ultrasound assessment of carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT), carotid distensibility coefficient and presence of carotid plaque. cfPWV and ankle brachial pressure index (ABPI) were also assessed. 123 men returned for between visit reproducibility assessments.
Results:
Good reproducibility was demonstrated in all measures (Gwet's agreement=0.8 for plaque, intraclass correlation=0.65 for ABPI and coefficient of variation <13% for all other measures). Measurements were obtained in >90% of men for all measures except cfPWV(S) and ABPI. In 1122 men with both cfPWV(V) and cfPWV(S) data, cfPWV(S) was greater than cfPWV(V) (mean difference=0.23,95%CI 0.10 to 0.37 m/s). cfPWV(V) was higher at low cfPWV values and cfPWV(S) was higher at high cfPWV values. Correlation of V transit time (TT) against S carotid and femoral TT demonstrated that the slope of the regression line for femoral TT was steeper than for carotid TT, resulting in a proportionally greater subtraction of carotid TT from femoral TT at higher PWVs.
Conclusions:
Reproducible, satisfactory quality non-invasive measurements of vascular phenotype were obtainable in a large proportion of elderly men. The discrepancy in results between the two PWV measures may partly be due to the differential impact of subtracting carotid TT when deriving cfPWV(S) across the clinical PWV range.
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