Arterial stiffness, metabolic syndrome and inflammation amongst Asian ischaemic stroke patients

Background and purpose: Arterial stiffness and metabolic syndrome (MetS) are risk factors for ischaemic stroke. We studied the association of arterial stiffness, measured by carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (PWV) and MetS amongst ischaemic stroke patients. We also investigated the role of inflammation measured by serum erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) in the metabolic syndrome-arterial stiffness relationship. Methods: Amongst the 229 prospectively recruited acute ischaemic stroke patients, we measured carotid-femoral PWV using applanation tonometry and the inflammatory marker serum ESR. Results: Carotid-femoral PWV was significantly higher amongst patients with MetS (P = 0.002), increased waist circumference (P = 0.010), raised blood pressure (P < 0.001) and abnormal glycemia (P = 0.002); and increased with the number of MetS components (P = 0.002). In a sub-group of 199 patients, carotid-femoral PWV was significantly correlated with serum ESR (P < 0.001). In multivariate regression analysis including serum ESR and MetS as variables, carotid-femoral PWV was independently associated with higher ESR (P = 0.002) but not with MetS (P = 0.139). Conclusions: Arterial stiffness is significantly associated with MetS amongst ischaemic stroke patients, and inflammation appears to be involved in this relationship.