Q J Med 2002; 95: 67-74
© 2002 Association of Physicians
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Assessment of arterial stiffness in clinical practice
From the Clinical Pharmacology Unit, University of Cambridge, Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, and 1 Department of Cardiology, University of Wales College of Medicine, University Hospital, Cardiff, UK
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Introduction |
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There has been much recent interest in the relationship between arterial stiffness and cardiovascular disease. Pulse pressure and pulse wave velocity, surrogate measures of arterial stiffness, indicate that arterial stiffness increases both with age and in certain disease states that are themselves associated with increased cardiovascular risk, including hypertension, diabetes mellitus, hypercholesterolaemia and end-stage renal failure.1 As changes can be detected before the appearance of clinically apparent vascular disease, arterial stiffness may act either as a marker for the development of future atherosclerotic disease, or may be more directly involved in the process of atherosclerosis. Arterial stiffening has been particularly implicated in the development of isolated systolic hypertension, a disease mainly affecting the elderly population and associated with considerable excess morbidity and mortality.
Arterial stiffness may be measured using a variety of different techniques, although at present the majority of measurements are made for experimental and physiological studies rather than
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Historical perspectives |
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Definitions |
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Methods of measuring arterial stiffness |
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Pulse pressure
Pulse wave velocity
Ultrasound-derived indices (Figure 2)
MRI-derived indices
Waveform analysis
The arterial waveform
Other methods
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Conclusions |
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Acknowledgments |
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Notes |
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References |
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