Relationship between Blood Stasis Syndrome Score and Cardioankle Vascular Index in Stroke Patients

Blood stasis syndrome (BSS) in traditional Asian medicine has been considered to correlate with the extent of atherosclerosis, which can be estimated using the cardioankle vascular index (CAVI). Here, the diagnostic utility of CAVI in predicting BSS was examined. The BSS scores and CAVI were measured in 140 stroke patients and evaluated with respect to stroke risk factors. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was used to determine the diagnostic accuracy of CAVI for the diagnosis of BSS. The BSS scores correlated significantly with CAVI, age, and systolic blood pressure (SBP). Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that CAVI was a significant associate factor for BSS (OR 1.55, P = 0.032) after adjusting for the age and SBP. The ROC curve showed that CAVI and age provided moderate diagnostic accuracy for BSS (area under the ROC curve (AUC) for CAVI, 0.703, P < 0.001; AUC for age, 0.692, P = 0.001). The AUC of the “CAVI+Age,” which was calculated by combining CAVI with age, showed better accuracy (0.759, P < 0.0001) than those of CAVI or age. The present study suggests that the CAVI combined with age can clinically serve as an objective tool to diagnose BSS in stroke patients.