Title:Effect of Heart Rate on Arterial Stiffness as Assessed by Pulse Wave Velocity
VOLUME: 14 ISSUE: 2
Author(s):Isabella Tan, Mark Butlin, Bart Spronck, Hanguang Xiao and Alberto Avolio*
Affiliation:Department of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, Chongqing Key Laboratory of Modern Photoelectric Detection Technology and Instrument, School of Optoelectronic Information, Chongqing University of Technology, Chongqing, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney
Keywords:Heart rate, arterial stiffness, pulse wave velocity, blood pressure, viscoelasticity, vascular.
Abstract:Vascular assessment is becoming increasingly important in the diagnosis of
cardiovascular diseases. In particular, clinical assessment of arterial stiffness, as measured by pulse
wave velocity (PWV), is gaining increased interest due to the recognition of PWV as an influential
factor on the prognosis of hypertension as well as being an independent predictor of cardiovascular
and all-cause mortality. Whilst age and blood pressure are established as the two major determinants
of PWV, the influence of heart rate on PWV measurements remains controversial with
conflicting results being observed in both acute and epidemiological studies. In a majority of studies
investigating the acute effects of heart rate on PWV, results were confounded by concomitant
changes in blood pressure. Observations from epidemiological studies have also failed to converge,
with approximately just half of such studies reporting a significant blood-pressure-independent
association between heart rate and PWV. Further to the lack of consensus on the effects of heart
rate on PWV, the possible mechanisms contributing to observed PWV changes with heart rate
have yet to be fully elucidated, although many investigators have attributed heart-rate related
changes in arterial stiffness to the viscoelasticity of the arterial wall. With elevated heart rate being
an independent prognostic factor of cardiovascular disease and its association with hypertension,
the interaction between heart rate and PWV continues to be relevant in assessing cardiovascular
risk.
