Association between lipid parameters and carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity

Introduction Carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (cfPWV) is the current gold standard to assess arterial stiffness, a strong predictor of cardiovascular mortality. Recently, some studies demonstrated that cfPWV was independently correlated with LDL cholesterol. Purpose The aim of this study was to assess the correlation of apolipoprotein B and cfPWV. Methods During a complete work-up of hypertension, lipids parameters were collected after an overnight fast. CfPWV was measured with a Complior device. Real travel distance was used (0.8 × direct travel distance) to assess PWV as recommended. Results Our cohort included 973 hypertensive patients with the following characteristics: age 50.5 ± 14.8 years, 51.1% of men, blood pressure 150 ± 25/84 ± 15 mm Hg, body mass index 26.8 ± 4.8 kg/m2, 20.1% of smokers, 14.2% of diabetes, eGFR 87.0 ± 23.1 mL/min, total cholesterol 5.1 ± 1.0 mmol/L, LDL cholesterol 3.1 ± 0.9 mmol/L, non-HDL cholesterol 2.0 ± 0.5 mmol/L, apolipoprotein B 1.0 ± 0.3 mmol/L and cfPWV 8.8 ± 2.4 m/s. Using a continuous variable cfPWV was correlated with total cholesterol (r = 0.111, P = 0.001), LDL cholesterol (r = 0.074, P = 0.021), non-HDL cholesterol (r = 0.102, P = 0.002) and more significantly with apolipoprotein B (r = 0.154, P   10 m/s was independently associated with apolipoprotein B [Hazard ratio 1.91, 95% CI (1.06–3.45)] but not with total cholesterol [Hazard ratio 1.14, 95% CI (0.99–1.32)]; LDL cholesterol [Hazard ratio 1.14, 95% CI (0.96–1.34)] and non-HDL cholesterol [Hazard ratio 1.24, 95% CI (0.90–1.71)]. Conclusion In this cohort of hypertensive patients, apolipoprotein B was the strongest lipid parameters associated with cfPWV. It may explain the additive prognostic value of apolipoprotein B on top of other lipid parameters to predict cardiovascular events.