Key result
Active smoking was associated with significantly higher abdominal aortic wall stiffness, with a mean shear wave speed of 2.66 m/s compared to 2.40 m/s in age-matched non-smokers.
Why the study?
Smoking causes stiffening of the central arteries, and elastography allows image-based quantification of vessel stiffness alongside morphological information.
Does smoking increase abdominal aortic wall stiffness measured by ultrasound time-harmonic elastography in adults without cardiovascular disease?
Cross-Sectional (n=30)
Single-blind
No
Does smoking increase abdominal aortic wall stiffness measured by ultrasound time-harmonic elastography in adults without cardiovascular disease?
Absolute Event Rate: 2.66% vs 2.4%
p-value: p=<0.01
Ultrasound time-harmonic elastography can detect subclinical stiffening of the abdominal aorta in young and middle-aged smokers before morphological changes such as aortic dilation occur.
Smoking may associate with subclinical aortic stiffening on elastography in adults without CVD; leaves open causal inference and outcome prediction.
Smoking is a significant cardiovascular risk factor that causes stiffening of the central arteries, especially the aorta. While vessel stiffness can be determined indirectly by measuring pulse wave velocity, elastography allows image-based determination of vessel stiffness while at the same time providing information on vascular morphology. This study compares abdominal aortic wall stiffness as measured by ultrasound time-harmonic elastography (THE) in fifteen smokers and fifteen age-matched non-smoking controls without a history of cardiovascular disease. Smokers had a significantly higher abdominal aortic wall stiffness with a mean shear wave speed of 2.66 m/s (95% confidence interval (CI) 2.59-2.72 m/s) compared to 2.40 m/s (95% CI 2.34-2.47 m/s) (p < 0.01) in the group of non-smokers. All other baseline characteristics including aortic diameter showed no significant differences. Inter-rater variability was excellent with an intraclass correlation coefficient of 0.99 (95% CI 0.98-0.99). Our results show that THE is sensitive to subclinical stiffening of the aorta in young and middle-aged smokers even before morphological changes occur and may therefore has the potential to serve as a screening tool for early aortic abnormalities and longitudinal risk factors for cardiovascular health.
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Elgeti et al. (2022) conducted a cross-sectional in Healthy volunteers (n=30). Smoking vs. Non-smoking was evaluated on Abdominal aortic wall stiffness measured by mean shear wave speed (SWS) (p=<0.01). Active smoking was associated with significantly higher abdominal aortic wall stiffness, with a mean shear wave speed of 2.66 m/s compared to 2.40 m/s in age-matched non-smokers.
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