Association of Estimated Pulse Wave Velocity with Abdominal Aortic Calcification: A Large Cross-Sectional Study

Objectives There is evidence that pulse wave velocity (PWV) can predict the occurrence of abdominal aortic calcification (AAC), while the association between estimated PWV (ePWV) and AAC has not been reported, so our study aimed to analyze the association between ePWV and AAC. Methods The study enrolled 3140 adults between the ages of 40 and 80 who participated in the 2013–2014 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Using multivariate logistic regression analysis, multivariate linear regression and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve to evaluate the association between ePWV and AAC. Results The ePWV was significantly higher in participants with AAC compared with those without AAC. And ePWV had a high correlation with age and AAC (correlation coefficient = 0.906 and 0.332, both P < 0.001). Individuals in high ePWV group had significantly higher percentage of AAC compared to low ePWV group (OR = 2.971, 95% CI 2.529–3.490, P < 0.001) in the crude model. After adjusting for all confounding variables, ePWV was still significantly higher (Model 3, OR = 1.962, 95% CI 1.612–2.389, P < 0.001). While after adjusting for all confounding variables plus age (Model 4), ePWV, when as a categorical variable, was no longer significantly positively associated with AAC. Additionally, the ROC curve indicated that both ePWV and age had some diagnostic value for AAC (AUC = 0.690, P < 0.001; AUC = 0.708, P < 0.001). Conclusions In the age range of 40–80 years, ePWV did have an association with AAC but did not have predictive power beyond age.