Assessing endothelial function and providing calibrated UFMD data using a blood pressure cuff

1. A method of assessing cardiovascular function in a mammal, said method comprising:

a) determining the systolic and diastolic blood pressure of said mammal wherein said determining the systolic and diastolic blood pressure comprises determining the pulse height as a function of applied external pressure P m to an artery;

b) applying a substantially constant external pressure P m to an artery for a first period of time T m , to provide a reduced transmural pressure, and determining, over the course of one or more cardiac cycles in said first period of time T m , changes in pressure in said artery resulting from cardiac activity of said mammal, or an artificially induced arterial pulse, to establish a baseline value for a parameter related to endothelial function in said mammal;

c) applying an arterial stimulus to said mammal; and

d) applying said substantially constant external pressure P m to said artery for a second period of time T m , to provide a reduced transmural pressure, and determining, over the course of one or more cardiac cycles in said second period of time T m , changes in pressure in said artery resulting from cardiac activity of said mammal, or an artificially induced arterial pulse, to provide a stimulus-affected parameter related to endothelial function in said mammal;

e) determining a second the systolic and diastolic blood pressure of said mammal, wherein said determining a second systolic and diastolic blood pressure comprises determining the pulse height as a function of applied external pressure P m to an artery;

f) fitting the data obtained in step (a) to determine a first model relating pulse height to transmural pressure and using said first non-linear model to convert said baseline value for a parameter related to endothelial function to a baseline value for a parameter related to endothelial function at a reference pressure;

g) fitting the data obtained in step (e) to determine a second non- linear model relating pulse height to transmural pressure and using said second model to convert said stimulus-affected value for a parameter related to endothelial function to a stimulus-affected parameter related to endothelial function at said reference pressure;

h) using said baseline value for a parameter related to endothelial function at said reference pressure to calculate baseline arterial lumen area (A b ) or a measure proportional to the area A b at said reference pressure;

i) using said stimulus-affected value for a parameter related to endothelial function at said reference pressure to calculate stimulus-affected arterial lumen area (A r ) or a measure proportional to the area A r at said reference pressure; and

j) determining the equivalent ultrasound-based flow-mediated dilation FMD (uFMD) measure where uFMD is proportional to the square root of the ratio A r /A b , and where said baseline values are determined from measurements made when said mammal is not substantially affected by said stimulus and uFMD provides a measure of cardiovascular function in said mammal.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein said substantially constant external pressure P m is lower than the diastolic pressure determined in step (a).

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein said reference pressure is substantially equal to the systolic pressure determined in step (a) or in step (e).

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein said reference pressure is substantially equal to the mean arterial pressure determined in step (a) or in step (e).

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein said reference pressure is substantially equal to the diastolic pressure determined in step (a) or in step (e).

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein said reference pressure is between the systolic and diastolic pressure determined in step (a) or in step (e).

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein said substantially constant external pressure is no more than about 10 mm Hg below the average diastolic pressure for said subject.

8. The method of claim 1 , comprising outputting said uFMD measure to a display, printer, or computer readable medium.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the equivalent ultrasound-based FMD is given as

uFMD %=[√{square root over (( A r / A b )}−1]×100.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein said first non-linear model and said second non-linear model are three parameter models.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein baseline values and stimulus-affected values are determined for the same limb or region.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein baseline values are determined for a limb or region contralateral to a limb or region used for determining the stimulus-affected values.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein said contralateral limb or region is used for determining the systolic and diastolic blood pressure in steps (a) and/or (e).

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein:

said providing stimulus-affected values comprises providing values for changes in pressure resulting from an artificially induced arterial pulse; or

said providing stimulus-affected values comprises providing values for changes in pressure resulting from cardiac activity of said mammal.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein step d) is performed at least about 30 seconds after stimulus up to about 5 minutes after said stimulus.

16. The method of claim 1 , wherein: step d) further comprises integrating the value of a pressure change over time (calculating the area under a pressure/time curve) for said one or more cardiac cycles to determine an integrated pressure value; and/or step d) further comprises determining a maximum, or a certain percentile rank, of a derivative of a pressure versus time waveform on a rising edge of a pressure pulse said one or more cardiac cycles to determine a compliance value.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein said integrated pressure value and/or said compliance value is determined for a single cardiac cycle.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein

said single cardiac cycle is a cardiac cycle selected for the maximum change in said value in a plurality of cardiac cycles; or

said single cardiac cycle is a cardiac cycle selected for the maximum change in said value between a baseline measurement and a stimulus-affected measurement.

19. The method of claim 1 , wherein step d) further comprises determining the pressure in said cuff as a function of time to provide a cardiac pulse waveform while the cuff inflates and/or while said cuff deflates.

20. The method of claim 19 , wherein the cardiac pulse waveform(s) are compared between baseline and post-stimulus conditions by direct comparison of pulse characteristics at corresponding pressure levels; or the cardiac pulse waveform(s) are compared between baseline and post-stimulus conditions by first fitting models to the set of baseline cardiac pulse waver forms and to the set of post-stimulus cardiac pulse waveforms and comparing parameters generated by the two models.

21. The method of claim 1 , wherein, in steps (a) or (e):

the systolic BP and MAP are measured and the diastolic blood pressure (DBP) is calculated using an oscillometric analysis; or

the systolic BP and MAP are measured and the DBP is determined by analyzing Korotkoff sounds obtained using an audio sensor or ultrasound probe.

22. The method of claim 1 , wherein measurements to calculate systolic BP, and/or MAP, and/or DBP are obtained during inflation or deflation of a sphygmomanometer cuff.

23. The method of claim 1 , wherein applying the stimulus comprises restricting flow of blood to the limb by occlusion of a blood vessel, or administering a drug to said mammal or applying low intensity ultrasound and/or acoustic/mechanical tissue vibration to said mammal.