Prediction of cardiovascular events with aortic stiffness in patients with erectile dysfunction.

Erectile dysfunction confers an independent risk for cardiovascular events and total mortality. Aortic pulse wave velocity (PWV) is an important predictor of cardiovascular events and all-cause mortality. We investigated whether PWV predicts major adverse cardiovascular events (MACEs) in patients with erectile dysfunction beyond traditional risk factors. MACEs in relation to PWV were analyzed with proportional hazards models in 344 patients (mean age, 56 years) without established cardiovascular disease. During a mean follow-up of 4.7 years (range, 1-8.5 years), 24 of 344 participants (7.0%) experienced a MACE. Subjects in the highest PWV tertile (>8.8 m/s) had a 4-fold higher risk of MACEs compared with those in the lowest PWV tertile (<7.6 m/s; adjusted hazard ratio, 3.97; P=0.035). A PWV value of 7.81 m/s was associated with a negative predictive value (ability to rule out MACE) of 98.1%. Addition of PWV to standard risk factor model yielded correct patient reclassification to higher or lower risk category by 27.6% (P=0.0332) in the whole cohort. Our results show that higher aortic stiffness is associated with increased risk for a MACE in patients with erectile dysfunction without known cardiovascular disease. Aortic PWV improves risk prediction when added to standard risk factors and may represent a valuable biomarker of prediction of cardiovascular disease risk in these patients.