Abstract:

To investigate the association between pulse wave velocity(cfPWV) and cerebrovascular diseases and to promote the application of PWV in epidemiological studies of cerebrovascular diseases. Methods58 patients with acute cerebral infarction(CI) and 31 patients with acute intracerebral hemorrhage(ICH) were enrolled in this study.  Another 30 persons without cerebrovascular disease（CVD） served as the control group. Carotidfemoral pulse wave velocity(cfPWV) was determined and the clinical data such as age, sex, smoking, alcohol intake, location in CI patients and site of hemorrhage were analyzed. ResultCfPWV in patients with CI and ICH was significantly higher than that in the control group(P<0.01 and P<0.05). CfPWV in patients with infarction in the cortex and subcortex was higher than that in patients with infarction in the brain stem or cerebellum(P<0.01),　there were no significant differences among patients with different hemorrhage location(P>0.05). Patients with CVD had a low cfPWV if they smoked(P<0.01). But there were no significant differences in patients with different levels of alcohol intake(P>0.05). ConclusionPWV may be an important risk factor relating to CI and ICH. Smoking may cause a decrease of thresholds of PWV and increases the risks of CVD.

Key words: Brain infarction; Cerebral hemorrhage; Pulse wave velocity