Original investigation

Brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity and symptomatic cerebral infarction in patients with type 2 diabetes: a cross-sectional study

Osamu Ogawa , Tomio Onuma , Sayaka Kubo , Naomi Mitsuhashi , Chie Muramatsu and Ryuzo Kawamori

Department of Medicine, Metabolism and Endocrinology, Juntendo University School of Medicine, 2-1-1 Hongo Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-8421, Japan

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Cardiovascular Diabetology 2003, 2:10doi:10.1186/1475-2840-2-10

Published:	28 August 2003

Abstract

Background

Recently a new automatic device that measures brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity using an oscillometric method has been developed. However, the practical significance of brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity measurement remains uncertain. The purpose of this study was to examine the association between brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity and symptomatic cerebral infarction in patients with type 2 diabetes.

Methods

One thousand sixty six patients with type 2 diabetes were studied cross-sectionally. Measurements of brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity were made using the automatic device. Logistic regression analysis was used to calculate the odds ratio for cerebral infarction.

Results

The presence of symptomatic cerebral infarction was confirmed in 86 patients. In these patients brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity was found to be significantly higher than in patients without cerebral infarction (18.94 ± 4.95 versus 16.46 ± 3.62 m/s, p < 0.01). The association between brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity and cerebral infarction remained significant after adjustment for traditional risk factors. There was an increasing odds ratio for each tertile of brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity, from the second tertile (odds ratio, 2.28; 95% confidence interval, 1.05 to 4.94), to the third (odds ratio, 2.53; 95% confidence interval, 1.09 to 5.86).

Conclusion

Overall, we conclude that an increase in brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity is associated with symptomatic cerebral infarction in patients with type 2 diabetes.