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.