Diabetes, Metabolic Syndrome and Obesity (Sep 2020)

Carotid Artery Stiffness in Metabolic Syndrome: Sex Differences

  • Kruszyńska E,
  • Łoboz-Rudnicka M,
  • Palombo C,
  • Vriz O,
  • Kozakova M,
  • Ołpińska B,
  • Morizzo C,
  • Łoboz-Grudzień K,
  • Jaroch J

Journal volume & issue
Vol. Volume 13
pp. 3359 – 3369

Abstract

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Ewa Kruszyńska,1 Maria Łoboz-Rudnicka,1 Carlo Palombo,2 Olga Vriz,3 Michaela Kozakova,4 Bogusława Ołpińska,1 Carmela Morizzo,2 Krystyna Łoboz-Grudzień,1,5 Joanna Jaroch1,5 1Cardiology Department, T. Marciniak Hospital, Emergency Medicine Center, Wrocław, Poland; 2Department of Surgical, Medical and Molecular Pathology and Critical Care Medicine, University of Pisa, School of Medicine, Pisa, Italy; 3Department of Cardiology and Emergency, San Antonio Hospital, Udine, Italy; 4Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy; 5Faculty of Health Sciences, Wrocław Medical University, Wrocław, PolandCorrespondence: Maria Łoboz-Rudnicka Email [email protected]: The effect of metabolic syndrome (MS) on carotid stiffness (CS) in the context of gender is under research.Objective: We examined the relationship between the MS and CS in men (M) and women (W) and investigated if the impact of cardiovascular risk factors on CS is modulated by gender.Patients and Methods: The study included 419 subjects (mean age 54.3 years): 215 (51%) with MS (109 W and 106 M) and 204 (49%) without MS (98 W and 106 M). Carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) and CS parameters (beta stiffness index (beta), Peterson’s elastic modulus (Ep), arterial compliance (AC) and one-point pulse wave velocity (PWV-beta)) were measured with the echo-tracking (eT) system.Results: ANCOVA demonstrated that MS was associated with elevated CS indices (p = 0.003 for beta and 0.025 for PWV-beta), although further sex-specific analysis revealed that this relationship was significant only in W (p = 0.021 for beta). Age was associated with CS in both M and W, pulse pressure (PP) and body mass index turned out to be determinants of CS solely in W, while the effect of mean arterial pressure (MAP) and heart rate was more pronounced in M. MANOVA performed in subjects with MS revealed that age and diabetes mellitus type 2 were determinants of CS in both sexes, diastolic blood pressure and MAP – solely in M and systolic blood pressure, PP and waist circumference – solely in W (the relationship between the waist circumference and AC was paradoxical).Conclusion: The relationship between MS and CS is stronger in W than in M. In subjects with MS, various components of arterial pressure exert different sex-specific effects on CS – with the impact of the pulsative component of arterial pressure (PP) observed in W and the impact of the steady component (MAP) observed in M.Keywords: carotid artery stiffness, metabolic syndrome, sex differences

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