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Circulation. 2005;112:2193-2200
Published online before print September 26, 2005, doi: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.105.535435
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(Circulation. 2005;112:2193-2200.)
© 2005 American Heart Association, Inc.


Vascular Medicine

Acute Systemic Inflammation Increases Arterial Stiffness and Decreases Wave Reflections in Healthy Individuals

Charalambos Vlachopoulos, MD; Ioanna Dima, MD; Konstantinos Aznaouridis, MD; Carmen Vasiliadou, MD; Nikolaos Ioakeimidis, MD; Constadina Aggeli, MD; Marina Toutouza, MD; Christodoulos Stefanadis, MD

From the First Department of Cardiology, Athens Medical School, Hippokration Hospital, Athens, Greece.

Correspondence to Charalambos Vlachopoulos, MD, Kerassoundos 17, Athens 11528, Greece. E-mail cvlachop{at}otenet.gr

Received August 19, 2004; de novo received January 10, 2005; revision received July 4, 2005; accepted July 12, 2005.

Background— Aortic stiffness is a marker of cardiovascular disease and an independent predictor of cardiovascular risk. Although an association between inflammatory markers and increased arterial stiffness has been suggested, the causative relationship between inflammation and arterial stiffness has not been investigated.

Methods and Results— One hundred healthy individuals were studied according to a randomized, double-blind, sham procedure–controlled design. Each substudy consisted of 2 treatment arms, 1 with Salmonella typhi vaccination and 1 with sham vaccination. Vaccination produced a significant (P<0.01) increase in pulse wave velocity (at 8 hours by 0.43 m/s), denoting an increase in aortic stiffness. Wave reflections were reduced significantly (P<0.01) by vaccination (decrease in augmentation index of 5.0% at 8 hours and 2.5% at 32 hours) as a result of peripheral vasodilatation. These effects were associated with significant increases in inflammatory markers such as high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (P<0.001), high-sensitivity interleukin-6 (P<0.001), and matrix metalloproteinase-9 (P<0.01). With aspirin pretreatment (1200 mg PO), neither pulse wave velocity nor augmentation index changed significantly after vaccination (increase of 0.11 m/s and 0.4%, respectively; P=NS for both).

Conclusions— This is the first study to show through a cause-and-effect relationship that acute systemic inflammation leads to deterioration of large-artery stiffness and to a decrease in wave reflections. These findings have important implications, given the importance of aortic stiffness for cardiovascular function and risk and the potential of therapeutic interventions with antiinflammatory properties.


Key Words: arterial stiffness • atherosclerosis • endothelium • inflammation • wave reflections




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