Journal
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF HYPERTENSION
Volume 28, Issue 12, Pages 1480-1488Publisher
OXFORD UNIV PRESS
DOI: 10.1093/ajh/hpv048
Keywords
arterial stiffness; blood pressure; cardiovascular; hypertension; pediatrics; pulse wave velocity; risk factors
Categories
Funding
- German Federal Ministry of Education and Research [01EO0802]
- Roche Organ Transplantation Research Foundation
- KfH-Stiftung Praventivmedizin
- ERA-EDTA Research Program
Ask authors/readers for more resources
BACKGROUND Aortic pulse wave velocity (PWV), an indicator of arterial stiffness, independently predicts cardiovascular mortality risk in adults. Arterial stiffening advances with age and seems accelerated in children with certain disease conditions such as chronic kidney disease or diabetes. The Vicorder, an oscillometric device to measure PWV, has been validated in children, but reference values in a large pediatric cohort, association to carotid stiffness and influence of individual and family risk factors have not been determined. METHODS Pulse waves were captured in 1,003 healthy children (aged 6-18 years) in 6 centers and gender-specific reference data normalized to age/height were constructed. In 589 children carotid distensibility and intima media thickness were measured. Gestational and family history was reported. RESULTS PWV correlated with age (r = 0.57, P < 0.0001) with significant gender-related differences starting at age 9. Further significant correlations were seen for height, weight, body mass index, blood pressure, pulse pressure, and heart rate. Independent predictors for PWV in a multivariate regression analysis were gender, age, height, weight, mean arterial pressure, and heart rate. Risk factors for higher PWV included small for gestational age at birth, secondhand smoking, parental hypertension, and obesity. PWV showed weak correlations with 2 of the carotid distensibility measures, but not with intima media thickness. CONCLUSION This study defines reference values for PWV captured by the Vicorder device in children and adolescents and reveals associations with potential cardiovascular risk factors in a healthy population. Gender-specific percentiles for age/height will allow for the assessment of pediatric cohorts using this oscillometric method.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available