The Correlation of Age and Fasting Blood Sugar with Cardio-Ankle Vascular Index in Southern Thai Healthy Volunteers

Abstract

Arterial stiffness is associated with advancing age and the accumulation of atherosclerotic plaque which may lead to an increase in cardiovascular risk events such as myocardial infarction or stroke. It can be predicted by using cardio-ankle vascular index (CAVI) and high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP), which is an inflammatory marker of subclinical atherosclerosis. This study aimed to measure the CAVI in southern Thai volunteers who has no history of cardiovascular diseases and to find the correlations between CAVI and age, fasting blood sugar (FBS), blood lipid profile or hsCRP. CAVI of the subjects were determined using sphygmomanometer (VaSera VS-1500N) based on the equation, CAVI = a{(2ρ/ΔP) × ln(Ps/Pd)PWV²}+b. Regression analysis revealed a significant positive correlation between 1) CAVI and age (CAVI = 4.94 + 0.05*AGE; R = 0.66, P < 0.001) and 2) CAVI and FBS (CAVI = 4.96 + 0.02*FBS; R = 0.35, P < 0.05). There was no significant correlation between CAVI and serum lipid profile or hsCRP. Logistic regression analysis also suggested the significant relation between two cardiovascular risk factors, gender and age, and the high CAVI of > 8.0.