Background: Compared with Europeans, South Asians (SA) suffer from excess coronary disease (CHD) while African-Caribbeans (AfC) have less CHD despite greater hypertension/stroke. Underlying arterial function differences are unclear.

Aim: To compare aortic pulse wave velocity (aPWV), and left ventricular mass index (LVMI), both strong, independent predictors of outcomes, in describing cross-ethnic CHD risk difference.

Methods: Magnetic resonance (MR) imaging was used to measure LVMI, and aPWV in the arch (aPWVarch) and descending aorta to bifurcation (aPWVdes) in 50 asymptomatic medication-free community-sampled AfC (n=17, age: 52.2±6yr), SA (15, 52.1±6) and European (18, 53.5±6) men recruited to the European Male Ageing Study. Central systolic blood pressure (BP) was measured using the Arteriograph device on the left arm, supine.

Results: Mean±SE of LVMI (g/m²) was lower in SA (65±2) than in AfC (74±2, p=0.005) and European (71±2, p=0.047) group adjusted for age, systolic blood pressure (SBP) and heart rate (HR); R² =0.45.

aPWVdes (m/s) was higher in SA (7.2±0.3) than AfC (6.2±0.3) or Europeans (6.1±0.3) after adjusting for age and SBP (R²=0.42). aPWVarch (m/s) did not differ significantly; AfC: 8.3±0.5, SA 7.8±0.5 and Europeans: 7.3±0.5, in a similar regression model. Substituting central BPs did not alter these results. Central systolic and pulse pressures (mmHg) were not significantly different in AfC (127±4, 45±2), SA (128±5, 47±3) and Europeans (125±4, 45±2), respectively adjusting for age and HR.

Conclusions: aPWVdes described cross-ethnic CHD risk differences better than LVMI and central pressures. aPWVarch, although not significantly different here, may predict stroke risk best in larger samples.