Arterial Stiffness, Exercise Capacity and Cardiovascular Risk

Large artery stiffening is widely believed to be the primary driver of isolated systolic hypertension and is recognised as a major cardiovascular risk factor [1]. Since arterial stiffness modulates the speed at which blood pressure waves propagate along arteries, and since the greatest loss of arterial compliance with ageing occurs in the aorta, the most popular surrogate index of arterial stiffness is carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (cf-PWV) [1 –4]. This is estimated by measuring the time delay between carotid and femoral arterial pulses and the length between these sites.
Source: Heart, Lung and Circulation - Category: Cardiology Authors: Tags: Editorial Source Type: research