Abstract P452: The Associations Between Potassium Levels, Arterial Stiffness, and Cardiovascular Disease Risk in the Jackson Heart Study

Background: Low-normal serum potassium (K) and low dietary K intake are more prevalent in Black than White individuals and are potentially modifiable risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD), hypertension, and diabetes, conditions that disproportionately affect Black adults. Arterial stiffness predicts the development of CVD. We sought to determine the associations of K measures with arterial stiffness and incident CVD. Methods: We used data from participants of the Jackson Heart Study who were free of CVD at baseline. We used multivariable linear regression to assess the associations of serum K and dietary K intake with two measures of arterial stiffness: peripheral pulse pressure (PP) and carotid-femoral PWV (CFPWV) - the gold standard. Additionally, we analyzed associations of K measures with incident CVD using multivariable Cox proportional hazard models. Results: Of 4467 participants included in our analyses, 1218 had low-normal serum K (K ≤ 4.0 mmol/L) at baseline, and 407 participants had a CVD event over a median of 13.7 years of follow-up. In minimally-adjusted models, there were significant inverse associations of serum K with PP and CFPWV. The association between serum K and CFPWV persisted after multivariable adjustment (Table). In multivariable models with serum K categorized into quintiles, those with serum K > 4.4 mmol/L had significantly lower CFPWV. There were no significant associations between dietary K and outcomes of arterial stiffness. There were no significant associations between either measure of K and incident CVD. Conclusions: In this cohort of Black adults, higher serum K was significantly associated with reduced arterial stiffness.