Reference Values of Brachial-Ankle Pulse Wave Velocity in Children

Background: Arterial is all properties are important parameters reflecting the physical characteristics of the arteries. They bear relationship to cardiac-arterial interactions of the various arterial wall properties. Values of pulse wave velocity (PWV), especially the brachial-ankle PWV (baPWV) are a practical predictor of the severity of atherosclerosis in adults. However, changes of value of baPWV in health children (8-19 years old) have rarely been assessed. We therefore investigated the changes in values of baPWV in healthy Taiwanese children. Method: Between Oct. 2004 and Dec. 2005, in the Pediatric Cardiovascular Outpatient Department of Kaohsiung Veterans General Hospital, was measured values of baPWV and other vital measurements in 123 healthy (systolic blood pressure (SBP)≤120 mmHg, body mass index (BMI)≤24 and no underlying heart disease) children (51 boys and 72 girls). The relationship between baPWV and vital measurements was analyzed by linear regression and step-wise multiple linear regression using SPSS 10.0 software. Result: The value of baPWV could be predicted by ankle diastolic pressure (aDBP) and body height (Ht) (baPWV=279.78+5.02(superscript *)aDBP+2.67(superscript *)Ht. p＜0.05). It also increased with age, body weight (Wt), brachial systolic blood pressure (bSBP), and brachial diastolic blood pressure (bDBP), independently. It was not statistically correlated with BMI, heart rate (HR) or ankle systolic blood pressure (aSBP). Conclusion: Based on our results, it is worthwhile to use values of baPWV as indicators of changes in arterial wall properties in healthy Taiwanese children.