Background: South Asians living in the UK have lower rates of peripheral vascular disease (PVD) than Caucasians. The reason for this is unclear. Arterial stiffness is an independent risk factor for CV disease and may precede the development of clinically overt atheroma. Thus a possible explanation for this lower incidence of PVD in South Asians, is that they have increased arterial compliance in the femoral vascular bed compared to Caucasians.

Method: We investigated this hypothesis in measuring F-D PWV in 93 male volunteers, matched for age and mean arterial pressure (MAP). 43 healthy Caucasians (HC) and 50 healthy South Asians (HA), free from cardiovascular medication and known PVD were used in the analysis. F-D PWV was recorded using foot to foot pulse wave velocity (PP-1000 Hanbyul Meditech, Korea).

Results: F-D PWV was significantly higher in the HC group compared to the HA group (10.5 ± 2.4 v 9.4 ± 1.6 m/s, P=0.019).

Conclusion: F-D PWV was significantly lower in South Asians living in the UK compared to matched Caucasians. This finding may account for the decreased incidence of PVD seen in this ethnic group. In addition these data support the hypothesis that increased arterial stiffness may predispose to atheromateous disease.