Assessment of the Variability of an Echo-Doppler Method for Measurement of Aortic Pulse Wave Velocity.
4 affiliations
- 1Cardiovascular Physiology Laboratory, Faculty of Biomedical Physiology and Kinesiology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada.
- 2Integrative Cardiovascular Physiology Laboratory, School of Human Kinetics, Trinity Western University, Langley, British Columbia, Canada.
- 3Division of Cardiology, Department of Pediatrics, Jim Pattison Children's Hospital, and University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.
- 4Division of Cardiology, Department of Pediatrics, British Columbia Children's Hospital, and the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Abstract
Background
Pulse wave velocity (PWV) is an indirect measure of elastic arterial stiffness. Although various methods have been established to measure PWV, the Echo-Doppler method for measuring thoracic aortic PWV (a-PWV) is a highly available and cost-effective technique within the cardiology clinic. The purpose of this study was to assess the variability of a-PWV using the Echo-Doppler method and identify the optimal number of measurements providing the least variability of a-PWV in paediatric patients and healthy controls.Methods
Eighteen patients with a dilated proximal aorta and 21 healthy controls with a normal-sized proximal aorta (10-18 years) were evaluated. Imaging was performed in 4 studies across 2 visits. Variability comparisons were performed for short-term, medium-term, intra-reviewer, inter-reviewer, and inter-sonographer variability and analysed via intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and Bland-Altman plots.Results
The ICCs were highest for 10 beats. The combined group ICCs for the variability comparisons for 10 beats were short-term (0.743), medium-term (0.723) intra-reviewer (0.978), inter-reviewer (0.729), and inter-sonographer (0.823). Bland-Altman plots showed good agreement for all variability comparisons.Conclusions
This study has established that the measurement over 10 beats produces the lowest variability and is recommended when assessing a-PWV in both patients with a dilated proximal aorta and controls. Further, reproducibility remains high, even when accounting for sources of measurement variation, such as differences between sonographers, reviewers, and study visits.
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BibTeX
@article{massarotto2026assessment,
title = {{Assessment of the Variability of an Echo-Doppler Method for Measurement of Aortic Pulse Wave Velocity.}},
author = {Raffaele J Massarotto and Timothy J Bradley and James E Potts and Kandice Mah and George G Sandor and Anita T Cote},
journal = {CJC pediatric and congenital heart disease},
year = {2026},
month = may,
doi = {10.1016/j.cjcpc.2026.05.002},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42948482},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Assessment of the Variability of an Echo-Doppler Method for Measurement of Aortic Pulse Wave Velocity.
AU - Raffaele J Massarotto
AU - Timothy J Bradley
AU - James E Potts
AU - Kandice Mah
AU - George G Sandor
AU - Anita T Cote
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/05/14
JO - CJC pediatric and congenital heart disease
DO - 10.1016/j.cjcpc.2026.05.002
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42948482
AB - Background Pulse wave velocity (PWV) is an indirect measure of elastic arterial stiffness. Although various methods have been established to measure PWV, the Echo-Doppler method for measuring thoracic aortic PWV (a-PWV) is a highly available and cost-effective technique within the cardiology clinic. The purpose of this study was to assess the variability of a-PWV using the Echo-Doppler method and identify the optimal number of measurements providing the least variability of a-PWV in paediatric patients and healthy controls.Methods Eighteen patients with a dilated proximal aorta and 21 healthy controls with a normal-sized proximal aorta (10-18 years) were evaluated. Imaging was performed in 4 studies across 2 visits. Variability comparisons were performed for short-term, medium-term, intra-reviewer, inter-reviewer, and inter-sonographer variability and analysed via intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and Bland-Altman plots.Results The ICCs were highest for 10 beats. The combined group ICCs for the variability comparisons for 10 beats were short-term (0.743), medium-term (0.723) intra-reviewer (0.978), inter-reviewer (0.729), and inter-sonographer (0.823). Bland-Altman plots showed good agreement for all variability comparisons.Conclusions This study has established that the measurement over 10 beats produces the lowest variability and is recommended when assessing a-PWV in both patients with a dilated proximal aorta and controls. Further, reproducibility remains high, even when accounting for sources of measurement variation, such as differences between sonographers, reviewers, and study visits.
SN - 2772-8129
ER -