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Carotid pulse wave velocity by magnetic resonance imaging is increased in middle-aged subjects with the metabolic syndrome

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Abstract

Arterial pulse wave velocity (PWV), an independent predictor of cardiovascular disease, physiologically increases with age; however, growing evidence suggests metabolic syndrome (MetS) accelerates this increase. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) enables reliable noninvasive assessment of arterial stiffness by measuring arterial PWV in specific vascular segments. We investigated the association between the presence of MetS and its components with carotid PWV (cPWV) in asymptomatic subjects without diabetes. We assessed cPWV by MRI in 61 individuals (mean age, 55.3 ± 14.1 years; median age, 55 years): 30 with MetS and 31 controls with similar age, sex, body mass index, and LDL-cholesterol levels. The study population was dichotomized by the median age. To remove the physiological association between PWV and age, unpaired t tests and multiple regression analyses were performed using the residuals of the regression between PWV and age. cPWV was higher in middle-aged subjects with MetS than in those without (p = 0.001), but no differences were found in elder subjects (p = 0.313). cPWV was associated with diastolic blood pressure (r = 0.276, p = 0.033) and waist circumference (r = 0.268, p = 0.038). The presence of MetS was associated with increased cPWV regardless of age, sex, blood pressure, and waist (p = 0.007). The MetS components contributing independently to an increased cPWV were hypertension (p = 0.018) and hypertriglyceridemia (p = 0.002). The presence of MetS is associated with an increased cPWV in middle-aged subjects. In particular, hypertension and hypertriglyceridemia may contribute to early progression of carotid stiffness.

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The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiology, Girona Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBGI) - Diagnostic Imaging Institute (IDI), Hospital of Girona “Dr Josep Trueta”, Av de França s/n, 17007, Girona, Spain

    Gerard Blasco, Josep Puig, Xavier Molina & Salvador Pedraza

  2. Department of Applied Mathematics and Analysis, University of Barcelona (UB), Barcelona, Spain

    Simone Balocco

  3. Computer Vision Center, Bellaterra, Spain

    Simone Balocco

  4. Philips Healthcare Iberia, Madrid, Spain

    Javier Sánchez-González

  5. Diabetes, Endocrinology and Nutrition Group, Girona Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBGI), Dr. Trueta University Hospital, CIBEROBN, Girona, Spain

    Wifredo Ricart & José Manuel Fernández-Real

  6. Department of Computer Science, Applied Mathematics and Statistics, University of Girona (UdG), Girona, Spain

    Josep Daunis-i-Estadella

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  1. Gerard Blasco
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  2. Simone Balocco
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Correspondence to Gerard Blasco.

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Blasco, G., Balocco, S., Puig, J. et al. Carotid pulse wave velocity by magnetic resonance imaging is increased in middle-aged subjects with the metabolic syndrome. Int J Cardiovasc Imaging 31, 603–612 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10554-014-0578-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10554-014-0578-6

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