Evaluation de la rigidité artérielle par la vitesse de progression de l'onde pouls doigt-orteil mesuré par popmetre® chez des sujets noirs africains atteints de sclérodermie systémique.

Background: The purpose of this study was to assess the arterial stiffness (AS) in black africans patients with systemic scleroderma. Patients and Methodology: A prospective cross-sectional hospital survey has been performed over a 6-month period, including 55 black african individuals, aged over 16 years and consenting, consisting of 29 patients with systemic scleroderma and 26 hospitalized controls. The finger-toe pulse wave velocity (ft-PWV) was recorded by popmetre® and comparaison between the 2 groups has been performed with statistical analysis. Results: The mean ft-PWV was 9,56 m/s ± 3,09 in the patient group and 7,71 m/s ± 2,63 in control group. The ft-PWV was significantly higher in patients with scleroderma compared to controls (p<0.0145). The study of the relationship between AS and independent variables in multivariate analysis demonstrated that having scleroderma increase by 1.81 times the value of the ft-PWV after adjustment for age and systolic blood pressure. Discussion: To our knowledge, this is the first assessment of the AS in black african patients with scleroderma. It shows that ft-PWV was significantly higher in patients with scleroderma compared to controls. Also, this high AS was imputable to the scleroderma. Conclusion: In Africa, the measurement of the AS by popmetre® could be a simple, rapid, non invasive and pratical early detection and follow-up of cardio-vascular involvments in the course of scleroderma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]