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Arterial stiffness and 5-year mortality in patients with peripheral arterial disease

Journal of Human Hypertension volume 34, pages 505–511 (2020)Cite this article

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Abstract

Among patients with peripheral arterial disease (PAD) the risk of mortality remains extremely high. We investigated whether arterial stiffness evaluated by aortic Pulse Wave Velocity (aPWV) and Augmentation index normalized for a standard heart rate of 75 bpm (Aix@75), predict cardiovascular disease (CVD) and total mortality in PAD and No-PAD patients. In 231 PAD patients (ankle-brachial index-ABI ≤ 0.9) and 167 No-PAD (ABI ≥ 0.91 < 1.3) the aPWV and Aix @75HR were evaluated using arterial tonometry and ABI values were obtained using an 8-MHz Doppler probe. The CVD and total mortality rates in relation to aPWV and Aix@75HR were analyzed using Cox regression model. During a mean follow-up of 5.4 ± 2 years 39 (16.9%) deaths occurred in PAD patients and 8 (4.8%) in No-PAD. In the population study, the age was a predictor of CVD mortality (HR = 0.143, 95% CI, 0.06–0.23; p = 0.0004) while the aPWV, was a predictor of total mortality (HR = 1.18, 95% CI, 1.07–1.30; p = 0.0008). In the PAD group, the aPWV remained associated with an increased risk for total mortality (HR = 1.14, 95% CI, 1.03–1.27; p = 0.010). An increase of aPWV may be an indicator of total mortality in PAD patients.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are indebted to Dr.ssa Antonella Beu for the linguistic revision of the text

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Center on Vascular Diseases and Angiology Unit, University of Milan, Milan, Italy

    Giovanni Scandale, Gabriel Dimitrov, Gianni Carzaniga, Edoardo Perilli, Maria Carotta & Mariella Catalano

  2. Medistat sas Milan, Milan, Italy

    Giovanni Scandale, Gabriel Dimitrov, Martino Recchia, Gianni Carzaniga, Edoardo Perilli, Maria Carotta & Mariella Catalano

  3. VAS-European Independent Foundation in Angiology/Vascular Medicine, Milan, Italy

    Giovanni Scandale, Gabriel Dimitrov, Gianni Carzaniga, Edoardo Perilli, Maria Carotta & Mariella Catalano

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  1. Giovanni Scandale
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  7. Mariella Catalano
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Mrs. Carotta and Mr. Carzaniga took part in all of the technical phases of the study as scientific Technicians of Science Biomediche e Cliniche DIBIC Department-University of Milan, Italy.

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Correspondence to Mariella Catalano.

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Scandale, G., Dimitrov, G., Recchia, M. et al. Arterial stiffness and 5-year mortality in patients with peripheral arterial disease. J Hum Hypertens 34, 505–511 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41371-019-0254-3

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