Family history of stroke is potentially associated with arterial stiffness in the Japanese population

Abstract

Background: Studies on the association between family history of cardiovascular disease and arterial stiffness are rare.

Aims: This study evaluated the possible relationship between family history of cardiovascular disease and arterial stiffness in the Japanese population, by measuring brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (ba-PWV).

Methods: A total of 1004 eligible subjects (664 men and 340 women) aged 35-69 years, who were enrolled in the baseline survey of a cohort study in Tokushima Prefecture (Japan) and who underwent ba-PWV measurement, were analysed. Information about their lifestyle characteristics and first-degree family histories of ischaemic heart disease (i.e. myocardial infarction or angina pectoris), stroke or hypertension were obtained from a structural self-administered questionnaire.

Results: Subjects of both sexes with a family history of stroke showed significantly higher multivariable-adjusted means of ba-PWV than those without that trait (P values were 0.001 in men and 0.002 in women), while those with a family history of ischaemic heart disease did not. Subjects of both sexes with a family history of hypertension showed significantly higher age-adjusted means of ba-PWV than those without that trait, although these differences disappeared after further adjusting for blood pressure or multivariable covariates. When family histories of these diseases were inserted simultaneously into the same model, these results did not alter substantially.

Conclusion: A family history of stroke might be associated with increased arterial stiffness, independent of other known atherosclerotic risk factors, including hypertensive elements, in both sexes in the Japanese population.

Keywords: Cross-sectional studies; Infarctus cérébral; Rigidité vasculaire; Stroke; Vascular stiffness; Étude transversale.