RESUMO
Objective: High aortic stiffness may reduce myocardial perfusion pressure and contribute to development of myocardial ischaemia. Whether high aortic stiffness is associated with myocardial ischaemia in patients with stable angina and non-obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD) is less explored. Methods: Aortic stiffness was assessed as carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (PWV) by applanation tonometry in 125 patients (62±8 years, 58% women) with stable angina and non-obstructive CAD participating in the Myocardial Ischemia in Non-obstructive CAD project. PWV in the highest tertile (>8.7 m/s) was taken as higher aortic stiffness. Stress-induced myocardial ischaemia was detected as delayed myocardial contrast replenishment during stress echocardiography, and the number of left ventricular (LV) segments with delayed contrast replenishment as the extent of ischaemia. Results: Patients with higher aortic stiffness were older with higher LV mass index and lower prevalence of obesity (all p<0.05), while angina symptoms, sex, prevalence of hypertension, diabetes, smoking or LV ejection fraction did not differ between groups. Stress-induced myocardial ischaemia was more common (73% vs 42%, p=0.001) and the extent of ischaemia was larger (4±3 vs 2±3 LV segments, p=0.005) in patients with higher aortic stiffness. In multivariable logistic regression analysis, higher aortic stiffness was associated with stress-induced myocardial ischaemia independent of other known covariables (OR 4.74 (95% CI 1.51 to 14.93), p=0.008). Conclusions: In patients with stable angina and non-obstructive CAD, higher aortic stiffness was associated with stress-induced myocardial ischaemia. Consequently, assessment of aortic stiffness may add to the diagnostic evaluation in patients with non-obstructive CAD. Trial registration number: NCT01853527.
RESUMO
OBJECTIVE: Sex differences in risk factors of aortic valve calcification (AVC) by echocardiography have not been reported from a large prospective study in aortic stenosis (AS). METHODS: AVC was assessed using a prognostically validated visual score and grouped into none/mild or moderate/severe AVC in 1725 men and women with asymptomatic AS in the Simvastatin Ezetimibe in Aortic Stenosis study. The severity of AS was assessed by the energy loss index (ELI) taking pressure recovery in the aortic root into account. RESULTS: More men than women had moderate/severe AVC at baseline despite less severe AS by ELI (p<0.01). Moderate/severe AVC at baseline was independently associated with lower aortic compliance and more severe AS in both sexes, and with increased high-sensitive C reactive protein (hs-CRP) only in men (all p<0.01). In Cox regression analyses, moderate/severe AVC at baseline was associated with a 2.5-fold (95% CI 1.64 to 3.80) higher hazard rate of major cardiovascular events in women, and a 2.2-fold higher hazard rate in men (95% CI 1.54 to 3.17) (both p<0.001), after adjustment for age, hypertension, study treatment, aortic compliance, left ventricular (LV) mass and systolic function, AS severity and hs-CRP. Moderate/severe AVC at baseline also predicted a 1.8-fold higher hazard rate of all-cause mortality in men (95% CI 1.04 to 3.06, p<0.05) independent of age, AS severity, LV mass and aortic compliance, but not in women. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, AVC scored by echocardiography has sex-specific characteristics in AS. Moderate/severe AVC is associated with higher cardiovascular morbidity in both sexes, and with higher all-cause mortality in men. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT00092677.
