Brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity is associated with 3-month functional prognosis after ischemic stroke

Abstract Background and aims Brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV) is a good measure of arterial stiffness and is associated with risk of future vascular events. The present study aimed to examine whether baPWV can also predict 3-month functional outcome after stroke. Methods This hospital-based study included 327 consecutive patients with acute ischemic stroke and in whom baPWV was measured during hospitalization. We defined good and poor functional outcomes as a modified Rankin Scale score of Results Patients with poor outcomes were significantly older (73.1 versus 66.3 years, p versus 13.1%, p versus 11.3%, p  = 0.020), history of coronary artery disease (20.0% versus 11.7%, p  = 0.042), and high baPWV value (22.84 versus 19.48 m/s, p 23.11 m/s, calculated from the receiver-operating characteristic curve, had an independent predictive value for poor functional outcome (odds ratio, 1.51; 95% confidence interval, 1.08–2.11; p  = 0.016). Conclusions BaPWV measured during the acute phase of stroke can independently predict 3-month functional prognosis. We suggest that baPWV should be performed as part of the early stroke work-up to identify patients suffering from severe stroke-related disability.