Brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity predicts the development of cardiovascular disease in a general Japanese population: the Hisayama Study.

Abstract We examined the relationship between brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity and the development of cardiovascular disease in a general Japanese population. A total of 2916 community-dwelling Japanese individuals without history of cardiovascular disease aged at least 40 years were followed up for an average of 7.1 years, and the relationship between brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity and the cardiovascular risk was estimated using the Cox proportional hazards model. To compare the accuracy of the risk assessment for cardiovascular events between the models adjusted for known cardiovascular risk factors with and without brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity, the area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve and net reclassification improvement were computed. During the follow-up period, 126 patients experienced cardiovascular events. Age and sex-adjusted incidence rates of cardiovascular disease increased linearly with elevating brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity levels (P for trend