Background: Vascular function is influenced by meal ingestion. We determined whether different time-points of observation were equivalent in detecting postprandial changes.
Methods: Twenty-two Middle Eastern adult men aged 29(5.3) y and percent fat 32(8.9) were studied after a two day avoidance of vigorous physical activity, an overnight fast and a mandatory 30 min rest in bed. All recordings were made in the supine position, at fasting and every 15 min for 2 h following a 75g OGTT. Blood pressure and heart rate was monitored through a semi-automated device and mean arterial pressure (MAP) was calculated. Endothelial function (EF) was assessed through pulse contour analysis that provided stiffness index (SI) and reflective index (RI). Integrated area under the curve (iAUC) was calculated by the trapezoid rule for 15 min and 30 min time-points.
Results: There was a significant drop in RI and an increase in HR following OGTT that was detected by both methods. There was no difference between methods on a paired t-test (iAUC-15 vs. iAUC-30) in RI [-11.2 (18.7) vs. -10.0 (17.4)%; P=0.29], SI [-0.15 (1.7) vs. -0.14 (1.4)m/sec, P=0.39], HR [+6.1(5.8) vs. + 5.9 (6.4) beats/min; P=0.69] and MAP [1.8 (11.2) vs. 1.7 (10.9) mm Hg, P=0.80]. Mean differences between methods were unrelated to the average of the two for all parameters. ICC for SI, RI, HR and MAP were 0.99, 0.96, 0.95 and 0.99, respectively.
Conclusions: The time-points of iAUC were equivalent for postprandial vascular function in this group.
Funding source: N/A