Relationship between cardio-ankle vascular index and N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide in hypertension and coronary heart disease subjects

Arterial stiffness is an independent predictor for vascular diseases. Cardio-ankle vascular index (CAVI) is a new index of arterial stiffness. N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) is a strong prognostic marker in advanced stage of coronary heart disease (CHD). In the present study, we investigated the relationship between CAVI and NT-proBNP in hypertension and CHD subjects. Five hundred one subjects (male/female, 209/292) from Vascular Medicine of Peking University Shougang Hospital were divided into four groups: healthy group (n = 186), hypertension group (n = 159), CHD group (n = 45), and hypertension with CHD group (n = 111). CAVI was measured using VS-1000 apparatus. Our results showed that CAVI was significantly higher in hypertension subjects with CHD than in healthy and hypertension group, respectively (8.42 +/- 1.51 vs. 7.77 +/- 1.19; 8.42 +/- 1.51 vs. 7.92 +/- 1.11; both P <.05). NT-proBNP was significantly higher in hypertension subjects with CHD than in healthy, hypertension, and CHD group, respectively (422.48 +/- 761.60 vs. 174.29 +/- 415.48; 422.48 +/- 761.60 vs. 196.14 +/- 299.16; 422.48 +/- 761.60 vs. 209.66 +/- 242.66; all P <.05). And after log transformation of NT-proBNP, this phenomenon also exists (2.32 +/- 0.47 vs. 2.03 +/- 0.40; 2.32 +/- 0.47 vs. 2.09 +/- 0.44; 2.32 +/- 0.47 vs. 2.12 +/- 0.42; all P <.05). There was positive correlation between log NT-proBNP and CAVI in the entire study group, healthy group, and nonhealthy group (r = 0.235, P <.001; r = 0.184, P =.023; r = 0.237, P <.001; respectively). Multivariate analysis showed that NT-proBNP was an independent associating factor of CAVI in all subjects (beta=0.150, P =.021). Our present study showed that CAVI and NT-proBNP were significantly higher in hypertension subjects with CHD compared with healthy and hypertension groups. There was significant correlation between NT-proBNP and CAVI, which indicates the relationship between arterial stiffness and biomarkers in vascular-related diseases. Crown Copyright (C) 2014 Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of American Society of Hypertension. All rights reserved.