The prognostic role of the cardio-ankle vascular index

The well‐performed meta‐analysis of Matsushita et al represents an important contribution to the knowledge about the clinical meaning of arterial stiffness parameters, suggesting that CAVI is associated positively with a slightly increased risk of CV events, but not of total mortality. However, caution is needed in interpreting these findings, due to the limited number of prospective studies eligible for the meta‐analysis and the relatively low number of subjects included, mostly living in Japan or China. Therefore, additional studies, preferably with a prospective design and involving participants also from non‐Asian countries, are required to better define the prognostic role and the clinical utility of CAVI