Determining Factors of Arterial Stiffness in Subjects with Metabolic Syndrome

Metabolic syndrome (MS) is a clustering entity characterized by obesity, hypertension, hyperglycemia, dyslipidemia, and insulin resistance. Early detection of atherosclerosis is important in patients with MS because cardiovascular diseases are the main cause of mortality in these patients.

We aimed to investigate the factors influencing arterial stiffness, pulse wave velocity, and the augmentation index, respectively, in 150 subjects with MS (94 women and 56 men; mean age 60.56 ± 9.8 years). Arterial stiffness was measured using the TensioMed™ Arteriograph. We tested the relationship between arterial parameters and insulin resistance measured by the determination of insulinemia (the ELISA method) and the homeostasis model assessment index (HOMA).

In multivariate analysis we identified the independent factors that influence arterial stiffness: systolic blood pressure (coefficient of determination 3.586; P < 0.0001), serum triglycerides (coefficient of determination 3.579; P < 0.0001), and age (coefficient of determination 3.510; P = 0.001) are independent predictive factors for pulse wave velocity. The independent predictive factors of the augmentation index were the body mass index (coefficient of determination 0.55; P = 0.009), the presence of diabetes mellitus (coefficient of determination 4.7; P = 0.03), mean arterial pressure (coefficient of determination 0.44; P < 0.0001), gender (coefficient of determination 9.2; P < 0.0001), age (coefficient of determination 0.3; P < 0.0001), and heart rate (coefficient of determination 0.66; P < 0.0001). Insulin resistance (HOMA index) was a predictor of the brachial augmentation index (β coefficient 3.4; P < 0.001) and was not a predictor of pulse wave velocity (β = -0.3; P = 0.6) in our study.

Given the known predictive value of pulse wave velocity for cardiovascular events, identifying the factors responsible for the increase in arterial stiffness is extremely important.