| Summary: | Background: Arterial stiffening measured by Pulse Wave Velocity (PWV) predicts cardiovascular events and mortality in adults. It advances with age and seems accelerated in children with certain disease conditions such as chronic kidney disease or diabetes. The aim of this study was to determine factors that influence PWV in children.
Methods: PWV was captured in 285 children aged 10–14 years attending a Portuguese school. The effects of sex, age, height, weight, body mass index, waist circumference, blood pressure, heart rate and sodium excretion in 24-h urinary samples in PWV were tested.
Results: PWV correlated positively with age, height, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure and heart rate in males and females (p < 0.05) and with weight in males (p < 0.05). Major predictors for PWV in a multivariate regression analysis were gender, height, weight, diastolic blood pressure, heart rate and body mass index.
Conclusion: Our study found several determinants of PWV in children, some of them modifiable and interfering with cardiovascular outcomes. Future research may provide clarity to the association between PWV in children and cardiovascular events in adulthood.
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