Cardio-Ankle Vascular Index and C-Reactive Protein Are Useful Parameters for Identification of Ischemic Heart Disease in Acute Heart Failure Patients

BACKGROUND The most common cause of heart failure (HF) is ischemic heart disease (IHD). Evaluation of IHD with non-invasive examinations is useful for the treatment of HF, and cardio-ankle vascular index (CAVI) is a good parameter for detecting systemic arteriosclerosis. However, the relationship between IHD and CAVI in acute HF (AHF) patients is still unclear. Therefore, we investigated the effect of non-invasive examinations, including CAVI to detect IHD. METHODS We studied 53 consecutive patients (average age of 66.5 ± 10.9 years old, 36 males) with AHF from January 2009 to December 2012. These patients were classified into the IHD group (n = 19) and non-IHD group (n = 34) according to the coronary artery angiography results. We evaluated the vital signs, laboratory findings and CAVI. RESULTS According to the laboratory findings, the C-reactive protein (CRP) in IHD group was significantly higher than non-IHD group (1.5 ± 2.1 mg/dL vs. 0.4 ± 0.4 mg/dL, P = 0.002). CAVI in IHD group was significantly higher than non-IHD group (9.58 ± 1.73 vs. 7.83 ± 1.86, P < 0.001). In the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve for discriminating the probability of IHD, the cut-off point of the CRP plus CAVI was 9.00. At that cut-off point, the sensitivity and the specificity were 69.7% and 89.5%, respectively. The mean area under the ROC curve (AUC) defined by the CRP plus CAVI was the greatest at all parameters. CONCLUSION The CRP and CAVI were useful parameters for the identification of IHD in patients with AHF.