Stone K, Fryer S, Faulkner J, et al. - Findings demonstrate independent associations of ankle-brachial index (ABI) and femoral-ankle pulse wave velocity (faPWV) (measures of lower-limb atherosclerosis and arteriosclerosis) with cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors and prevalent CVD. Additional risk information beyond ABI could be achieved by faPWV evaluation.

• A study of 4,330 older-aged (75.3 ± 5.0 years) adults in whom links between ABI and faPWV with CVD risk factors and CVD were assessed via mixed-model linear- and logistic-regression.

• ABI and faPWV were identified to be related to age, high-density lipoprotein, and smoking.

• Associations of ABI with gender, total cholesterol, diabetes were revealed, and faPWV showed link with systolic blood pressure.

• Inverse links of both ABI and faPWV with CVD were observed.

• An increase in odds of CVD by 2.41-fold and 1.46-fold was induced by low ABI (≤0.9 vs. >0.9) and low faPWV (≤9.94 vs. >9.94), respectively.

• The inverse link between faPWV and CVD did not rely on ABI and CVD risk factors.