Reproducibility of arterial vascular compliance measurements

The reproducibility of the determination of systematic proximal and distal vascular compliance was evaluated prospectively in ten normotensive male subjects over an average 37-day interval between the initial and follow-up studies. Compliance values were calculated from a modified Windkessel model of the peripheral vasculature, utilizing parameters from the pulse contour analysis of the brachial artery waveform. There were no statistically significant differences in either hemodynamic variables (mean arterial pressure, cardiac output, heart rate, systematic vascular resistance) or vascular proximal or distal compliance between the study and restudy periods. Hemodynamic variables had regression coefficients in the 0.5-0.7 range, while proximal and distal compliance regression were 0.87 and 0.84, respectively. Thus, vascular compliance by pulse contour analysis is a reproducible measure of vascular status.