Abstract
AIMS: This prospective observational study aimed to examine the individual longitudinal associations of the increases in the arterial stiffness and pressure wave reflection with the decline in the cardiac systolic performance during the study period in healthy middle-aged Japanese men. METHODS: In 4016 middle-aged Japanese healthy men (43±9 years), the brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV), radial augmentation index (rAI), and pre-ejection period/ejection time (pre-ejection period (PEP)/ET) were measured annually during a 9-year study period. RESULTS: The baPWV, rAI, and PEP/ET showed steady annual increases during the study period. According to the results of multivariate linear regression analyses, both the baPWV and rAI measured at the baseline showed significant independent associations with the PEP/ET measured at the baseline (baPWV: beta=0.17, p＜0.01 and rAI: beta=0.11, p＜0.01), whereas neither showed any association with the PEP/ET measured at the end of the study period. The results of the mixed-model linear regression analysis of the repeated-measures data collected over the 9-year study period revealed that the baPWV, but not the rAI, showed a significant longitudinal association with the PEP/ET (estimate=0.69 x 10(-4), p＜0.01). CONCLUSION: In apparently healthy middle-aged Japanese men, the annual increase of the arterial stiffness, rather than the annual increase of the pressure wave reflection, appears to be more closely associated with the annual decline of the cardiac systolic performance as assessed by the systolic time interval.