Introduction:
Arterial stiffness (AS) is an early-stage marker of vascular aging (1), which is associated with changes in physical characteristics of the wall’s artery, such as distensibility, complacency, and elasticity (2). It has been shown that AS is related to the underlying cause of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) such as chronic low-grade inflammation and endothelial dysfunction (3, 4). AS obtained noninvasively through measurements of the pulse wave velocity (PWV), which is considered the gold standard, and it has independent predictive value for all-cause and CVD mortality independent of previous CVD, age, and type 2 diabetes mellitus (5, 6).
The relationship between AS and modifiable lifestyle factors such as physical activity (PA) (7), anthropometric indices (8), and lipid profiles (9) is not clear. Previous studies have failed to establish the relationship between AS with PA and lipid profiles. Some studies reported a negative correlation between AS and PA (10), and some studies have shown no association between these two (11). On the relationship between lipid profiles and AS, Zhao et al. showed that a reverse association between only high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and AS (9). In contrast, results from cross-sectional studies showed a direct association between AS and triglycerides (TGs) (12). There are suggestive findings from studies showed that the degree of obesity, assessed by body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC), is a positive correlation with AS. In contrast, other studies failed to demonstrate any association between AS with BMI and WC (8, 12).
Mentioned studies evaluated the relationship between only one of the AS markers with one of the modifiable lifestyle risk factors (anthropometric measures, lipid profiles, or PA). So it seems necessary to conduct a comprehensive study to determine all of these risk factors. The purpose of the current study was to assess the relationship between both local and systemic AS markers, including cf-PWV and cAIx, with anthropometric indices, lipid profiles, and PA among healthy middle-aged adults.