Abstract
Measuring arterial stiffness is a non-invasive method of assessing cardiovascular risk and is raised in COPD. It is not known if this measure remains consistent over time in COPD, creating uncertainty in interpreting single measurements.
We measured carotid-femoral aortic pulse wave velocity (APWV) using Vicorder™ apparatus in stable patients from the London COPD Cohort (no exacerbations recorded on daily symptom diary cards in the preceding four weeks and subsequent two weeks).
APWV was measured at two visits in 89 stable patients and at a third visit in 27 of those patients. The median (IQR) interval was 103 (91,175) days between visits one and two, and 91 (84,98) days between visits two and three.
Mean (±SD) APWV was 9.57±1.90ms-1, 9.42±1.52ms-1 and 9.47±1.67ms-1 at respective visits with an intra-class correlation of 0.716 between visits one and two. Coefficient of variation of APWV over two visits was 5.99% and 6.42% over three visits.
Repeated measurements of APWV in stable COPD patients appear to be consistent several months apart, thus confirming reliability of this tool and enabling detection of changes in arterial stiffness with alterations in clinical status or therapy.
- © 2011 ERS