Arterial stiffness in New Zealand

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk for Māori people with diabetes is 30% higher than other ethnic groups. Ways to identify people at high CVD risk, early and more accurately will benefit the community and reduce medical, economic, and social burden.

Pulse wave velocity (PWV), a global measure of arterial stiffness, is an additional, independent predictor of CVD events and responds to cardioprotective medications and lifestyle modifications.

In contrast to European or American Heart Association guidelines, NZ stroke or CVD risk assessment guidelines make no recommendations for measuring arterial stiffness in routine clinical settings. Moreover, there is limited information about the normal and reference values of PWV in the NZ population, particularly for Māori and Pacific peoples.

This research aims co-design community engagement and recruitment to fill in this knowledge-gap.

External Funders

Pūtahi Manawa

AUT Team

Ekta Dahiya (lead), Andrew Lowe

Collaborators

Iwi United Engaged