Clinical significance of brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity in patients with heart failure with reduced left ventricular ejection fraction

BACKGROUND: Although pulse wave velocity (PWV) is recognized to be a risk predictor for various cardiovascular diseases, the association of brachial-ankle PWV (baPWV) with cardiovascular outcomes in heart failure (HF) with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) patients remains uncertain. METHODS: We measured ankle-brachial pressure index (ABI) and baPWV values at stable condition after optimal therapy for HF in 201 consecutive HFrEF patients admitted to Kumamoto University Hospital from 2007 to 2015 who were enrolled and followed until the occurrence of cardiovascular events. We defined peripheral artery disease (PAD) as ABI value ≤ 0.9. RESULTS: Kaplan-Meier analysis revealed that HFrEF patients with peripheral artery disease PAD had a significant higher risk of total cardiovascular and HF-related events than those without PAD (P = 0.03 and P = 0.01, respectively). Next, we divided HFrEF patients without PAD into 3 groups according to baPWV values. In the Kaplan-Meier analysis, total cardiovascular and HF-related events in the highest baPWV group (1,800 cm/second ≤ baPWV) had a significantly higher frequency than those in the mid-level baPWV group (1,400 cm/second ≤ baPWV < 1,800 cm/second) (P = 0.007 and P = 0.004, respectively). The hazard ratio between HFrEF patients in the mid-level baPWV group and those with other baPWV groups was compared after adjustment for other cofounders. The probabilities of HF-related events were significantly higher in the lowest and highest baPWV group. CONCLUSION: Identifying complications of PAD and measuring baPWV values in HFrEF patients were useful for predicting their prognosis.Trial Registration: UMIN000034358.