Increased plasma ceramide levels are associated with arterial stiffness and vascular ageing: a cross-sectional study

Cardiovascular (CV) events pose a substantial threat to human health. Plasma ceramides have been shown to exhibit predictive value for CV events; however, its correlation with arterial stiffness had yet to be fully elucidated. This study aimed to explore the associations of plasma ceramide levels and their ratios with arterial stiffness.

This retrospective study involved participants whose ceramide levels were measured and whose arterial stiffness was assessed. Multivariate regression was used to assess the association between plasma ceramides and arterial stiffness. Restricted cubic spline (RCS) analysis was used to assess the correlation between plasma ceramide levels and arterial stiffness. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were generated to assess the diagnostic value of plasma ceramides for arterial stiffness. Subgroup analyses were also performed.

This study included 503 patients with a mean age of 43.7 ± 10.8 years. The results showed that plasma ceramides 24:0 and 22:0 were significantly associated with arterial stiffness, as supported by multivariate regression analysis. RCS analysis revealed a potential linear relationship between plasma 24:0 ceramide and arterial stiffness (P for nonlinearity > 0.05). In contrast, a significant nonlinear correlation was found for plasma 22:0 ceramide (P for nonlinearity = 0.04). ROC analysis revealed optimal cut-off values of 1.035 µmol/L for plasma 22:0 ceramide (68.0% specificity, 67.3% sensitivity) and 3.335 µmol/L for plasma 24:0 ceramide (64.1% specificity, 74.8% sensitivity), with area under the curve (AUC) values of 0.702 and 0.724, respectively, demonstrating acceptable diagnostic performance. Additionally, subgroup analyses revealed a marked connection between serum ceramide levels and arterial stiffness, especially in male participants and individuals with normal lipid profiles.

Plasma ceramide levels are significantly correlated with arterial stiffness, which suggests that they play a role as biomarkers for vascular ageing assessments and highlights their potential value for early prevention strategies against CV events.