Association of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease risk stratification with carotid wall shear stress as measured by vector flow mapping: a study of a Chinese population

Background: Wall shear stress (WSS) is affected by a variety of hemodynamic factors and plays a role in the pathogenesis of many diseases, such as abnormal WSS is associated with local endothelial dysfunction and atherosclerosis (AS). Vector flow mapping (VFM) is a new tool developed to calculate WSS according to the mass conservation equation. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between carotid WSS measured by the VFM technique and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) risk stratification. Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted on 155 individuals who were recruited from the Department of Cardiology at Qilu Hospital of Shandong University. Carotid WSS was measured via the VFM technique. The correlations between carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT) or ASCVD risk stratification and carotid WSS were assessed via Spearman analysis. Multiple linear regression was used to examine the correlation between traditional risk factors or biochemical indicators and carotid WSS. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was performed to analyze the association between carotid WSS and ASCVD risk stratification. Results: for predicting very high or ultrahigh risk of ASCVD was larger than of CIMT (all P values