Age- and Sex-Specific Patterns of Cardio-Ankle Vascular Index in Asymptomatic Adults.

Authors

Tae-Min Rhee, Heesun Lee, Hui Yeon Kim, Su-Yeon Choi, Jeong-Hun Shin, Hyun-Jin Kim, Jeonggyu Kang, Ki-Chul Sung

Published in

JACC. Asia. Aug 31, 2026. Epub Aug 31, 2026.

Abstract

The cardio-ankle vascular index (CAVI) is a blood pressure-independent measure of arterial stiffness.
The authors aimed to characterize age- and sex-specific CAVI patterns and longitudinal changes and determine the optimal cutoff for predicting the coronary artery calcium score (CACS) > 0 in the Korean cohort.
We included individuals who underwent CAVI during health check-ups between 2010 and 2024. Cross-sectional analyses characterized CAVI distributions by age and sex, whereas longitudinal analyses of participants with serial measurements assessed annual changes. The association between CAVI and CACS > 0 was evaluated using multivariable logistic regression, and a sigmoid spline model determined the optimal cutoff value for predicting CACS > 0.
Among 15,811 asymptomatic adults, 11,022 (69.7%) were men. The CAVI increased progressively with age, with a more apparent increase in men after their 50s and in women after their 60s. Median CAVI ranged from 6.35 (Q1-Q3: 6.05-6.67) to 9.35 (Q1-Q3: 8.75-10.05) in men and from 6.05 (Q1-Q3: 5.80-6.70) to 9.00 (Q1-Q3: 8.25-9.60) in women across age groups, generally lower than prior reference values. Sensitivity analyses excluding individuals with cardiovascular disease or relevant medications showed similar trends. In the longitudinal subset, the CAVI increased over time, particularly in older men. The CAVI independently predicted CACS > 0 after adjustment for clinical risk factors (OR: 1.071; 95% CI: 1.007-1.139; P = 0.030), with an optimal cutoff of 8.2.
This large-scale study provides updated age- and sex-specific CAVI references and longitudinal trajectories in Korean patients. The association between elevated CAVI and subclinical coronary calcification supports its utility as a noninvasive vascular screening tool.

PMID:
42687449
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 03 Sep 2026.

Read full publication at:
Please sign in to see all details.

Stats

1-terrible, 9-excellent. How would you rate this publication? Sign in in to submit your rating.

Post a comment

You need to be signed in to post comments. You can sign in here.

Comments

There are no comments yet.