THURSDAY, Nov. 10, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Blacks and Hispanics have increased proximal aortic pulse wave velocity (PWV) and characteristic impedance (Zc) compared with whites, according to a study published online Nov. 9 in JACC: Cardiovascular Imaging.
Akshay Goel, M.D., from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, and colleagues compared ethnic differences in PWV and Zc in a multiethnic population of 2,544 participants who underwent cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging. The authors determined aortic stiffness and Zc from aortic arch PWV and lumen area measurements.
The researchers found that after adjustment for age, age squared, sex, body mass index, height, mean arterial blood pressure (BP), antihypertensive treatment, heart rate, total cholesterol, diabetes mellitus, and smoking, blacks and Hispanics had higher levels of aortic arch PWV (both P< 0.05 versus whites) and Zc compared with whites (both P < 0.01 versus whites). Blacks also had higher levels of both PWV and Zc than Hispanics (both P < 0.01). After adjustment for cardiac output and peripheral vascular resistance, ethnic differences persisted.
"In a multiethnic population-based sample, blacks and Hispanics had higher proximal aortic stiffness compared with whites independent of BP and other relevant risk factors," the authors write.
One author is the owner of Cardiovascular Engineering, which manufactures devices to measure vascular stiffness, and receives honoraria from pharmaceutical companies.
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