Pulse wave velocity 8.2 m/s as a threshold associated with cardiovascular target organ damage

Objective: Identify from which PWV value, there is a greater possibility of identifying association with the presence of left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH), increased intima-media thickness (IMT) and presence of carotid plaque in hypertensive patients. Design and method: This is a cross-sectional study of 119 patients. ROC curves were performed for each cardiovascular biomarker. The analyses were performed considering the significance level of 0.05. Results: ROC curves were performed for each cardiovascular biomarker and the PWV values of 8.1m/s for LVH, 8.2m/s for increased IMT and 8.7 for the presence of carotid plaque were found, respectively. The PWV value of 8.2m/s identified the best parameter to find the three TOD outcomes. PWV above 8.2ms was associated with increased IMT (p = 0.004), with the presence of carotid plaque (p = 0.003) and with LVH (p<0.001). PWV above 8.2 showed greater sensitivity for IMT (AUC = 0.678, sensitivity 62.2), LVH (AUC = 0.717, sensitivity 87.2) and presence of plaque (AUC = 0.649, sensitivity 74.51) in the ROC curve. Conclusions: The 8.2m/s value is more sensitive in identifying the existence of cardiovascular biomarkers prematurely.