Abstract
Endothelial dysfunction (ED), which is often evaluated by flow-mediated vasodilation (FMV) in the brachial artery, has been postulated as a predictor of cardiac events. Although the upper and forearm location of the occlusion device have been used for FMV evaluation, currently there is no consensus whether they provide the same information. The main goal of this study was to evaluate if both techniques have the same accuracy to differentiate subjects with and without cardiovascular risk factors (CRFs). A cross-sectional study in 124 subjects was performed. The volunteers were divided in two groups: 62 subjects (20 women and 42 men) with at least one CRF and 62 (20 women and 42 men) healthy subjects without CRFs. FMV measurements using the cuff in the upper arm and forearm with intervals of 30 min were taken. In all subjects, %FMV with the cuff located in the upper arm was 10.13 ± 4.5 and 9.8 ± 4.1 with the cuff located below the elbow. In healthy subjects without CRFs the %FMV in the upper arm was 12.19 ± 4.0 versus 12.31 ± 3.4 in the upper forearm, in CRF subjects it was 8.08 ± 4.0 vs 7.29 ± 3.2., respectively. FMV was not affected by the location of the cuff in maintaining the test ability and accuracy to differentiate subjects with and without CRFs.
