The most common cause of complete atrioventricular block (CAVB) is age-related fibrotic degeneration and is referred to as primary idiopathic complete atrioventricular block (iCAVB). This study aims to investigate the relationship between iCAVB and arterial stiffness using the cardio-ankle vascular index (CAVI).In this study, of 205 CAVB patients, 41 patients with iCAVB implanted with a dual-chamber permanent pacemaker and 40 age- and gender-matched controls were studied. Arterial stiffness was assessed by a VaSera VS-1000 CAVI instrument. The CAVI values of patients with iCAVB were significantly higher compared with the controls (9.63 ± 1.42 vs 8.57 ± 1.12, P < .001). Idiopathic complete atrioventricular block frequency was higher among patients with abnormal CAVI values than those with borderline and normal CAVI (P = .04). In multivariate analysis, only CAVI was an independent predictor of iCAVB after adjusting for other relevant factors (odds ratio, 2.575; 95% CI [1.390-4.770]; P = .003). The present study demonstrated that CAVI, as a marker of arterial stiffness, was increased among elderly patients with iCAVB. Thus, we provide a possible additional mechanism linking easily measured CAVI with iCAVB.
Keywords: aging; arterial stiffness; atrioventricular block; cardio-ankle vascular index.