Rationale, design, and baseline characteristics of the Cardiovascular Prognostic COUPLING Study in Japan

Kario, K., Kabutoya, T., Fujiwara, T., Negishi, K., Nishizawa, M., Yamamoto, M., Yamagiwa, K., Kawashima, A., Yoshida, T., Nakazato, J., Matsui, Y., Sekizuka, H., Abe, H., Abe, Y., Fujita, Y., Sato, K., Narita, K., Tsuchiya, N., Kubota, Y., Hashizume, T., … Hoshide, S. (2020). Rationale, design, and baseline characteristics of the Cardiovascular Prognostic COUPLING Study in Japan (the COUPLING Registry). Journal of clinical hypertension (Greenwich, Conn.), 22(3), 465–474. https://doi.org/10.1111/jch.13764

Vascular biomarkers, including the cardio-ankle vascular index (CAVI), are increasingly being recognized as important indicators of cardiovascular risk. CAVI has been shown to have good discriminative ability for detecting new-onset hypertension, but results of studies investigating cardiovascular risk prediction are inconsistent. Furthermore, there is a lack of data on the prognostic value of changes in CAVI over time. The Cardiovascular Prognostic Coupling study was designed to determine the impact of baseline CAVI and changes in CAVI on cardiovascular events in a Japanese cohort. The design of the ongoing, multicenter, prospective, observational registry and baseline characteristics of the enrolled population are reported. Eligible consecutive patients were aged >= 30 years, had >= 1 cardiovascular risk factor, and were being treated according to relevant Japanese guidelines.