Aortic pulse wave velocity, an independent marker of cardiovascular risk.

Aortic pulse wave velocity (PWV), a classical index of aortic stiffness, may be easily measured in humans using non invasive ultrasound methods of high reproducibility. Recent epidemiological studies have shown that, independently of confounding factors as age, blood pressure and cardiac mass, aortic PWV is a predictor of cardiovascular (CV) mortality in populations of hypertensive subjects, whether they have or not end-stage renal disease. Since aortic PWV is dominantly influenced by age, this finding may be of major importance for the evaluation of CV risk in geriatric populations.