REPRODUCIBILITY OF MEASURING THE CARDIO-ANKLE VASCULAR INDEX (CAVI) TO ASSESS ARTERIAL STIFFNESS USING VASCULAR SCREENING SYSTEM

Introduction and aim: Arterial stiffness generally reflects atherosclerosis and can be measured using different methods. In Kardiovize 2030, a cross-sectional study monitoring prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors in the city of Brno, we use vascular screening system Vasera 1500® (Fukuda Denshi, Japan) to determine CAVI. It contains 4 blood pressure cuffs with sensors (to measure blood pressure and generate plethysmograms), ECG leads and a phonocardiograph (microphone recording heart sounds). Using these monitors, CAVI is calculated. Good reproducibility of such measurement is essential to evaluate arterial stiffness but current evidence is limited to studies with only a few participants.

Methods: During 6 months we investigated 212 people aged 26-45 years (36.4±5.5 yr) with no history of cardiovascular events. Every volunteer had a CAVI measured twice within 5 minutes according to the standard guidelines by a trained nurse. We calculated the average CAVI for each attempt. Then we analyzed these two averages in order to examine the reliability and reproducibility of the measurements using the Bland-Altman plot and test.

Results: There was only a slight mean difference between CAVI measurements (-0.018 ± 0.60). The intra-class correlation coefficient and standard error of the mean were R=0.72, SEM=0.32, respectively, proving a good reproducibility of the device to measure CAVI.

Conclusion: CAVI measurement using vascular screening system Vasera 1500® is a method to asses arterial stiffness with very good reproducibility in young healthy volunteers.

Supported by European Regional Development Fund - Project FNUSA-ICRC (No. CZ.1.05/1.1.00/02.0123) and Ministry of Health - grant IGA (NT13434-4/2012)