User:Trabantje/sandbox

Dependence of pulse wave velocity on blood pressure
Pulse wave velocity intrinsically varies with blood pressure. This can be clearly seen from the Bramwell-Hill equation (see below), linking PWV to compliance ($$dV/dP$$), blood mass density and (diastolic) volume ($$V$$). PWV increases with pressure for two reasons:


 * 1) Arterial compliance ($$dV/dP$$) decreases with increasing pressure due to the curvilinear relationship between arterial pressure and volume.
 * 2) Volume ($$V$$) increases with increasing pressure (the artery dilates), directly increasing PWV.

Current guidelines by the European Society of Hypertension state that a measured PWV larger than 10 m/s can be considered an independent marker of end-organ damage. However, the use of a fixed PWV threshold value could be debated, as PWV is markedly dependent on blood pressure at a rate of approximately 1 m/s per 10 mmHg.