Objective To investigate the relationship between pulse wave velocity(PWV) and severity of coronary atherosclerosis. Methods Coronary angiography were performed on 324 patients admitted to Chinese PLA General Hospital for the chest pain between January 2008 and October 2010, including 213 males, 111 females, mean age (61.3±12.1) years. The patients were divided into two groups according to the result of coronary angiography: coronary artery disease (CAD) group and non-CAD group. CAD was diagnosed if at least 50% diameter stenosis was found in one or more coronary segment. The CAD group was divided into single-vessel group, dual-vessel group and multiple-vessel group in term of the numbers of coronary artery with lesion. Aortic flexibility was assessed by measuring brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV). Results The logistic regression showed gender, smoking, PWV are the risk factors for CAD. PWV were found to have a positive correlation with severity of CAD (r＝0.307, P=0.005), but the result became negative after normalizing with multiple cardiovascular risk factors. When the severity of CAD was expressed as single-, dual-, or multiple-vessel disease, the multivariate odds of multiple-vessel disease in subjects with PWV≥1600cm/s was 5.734 times higher than those with PWV＜1600cm/s. Conclusions Aortic flexibility has a positive correlation with CAD. Patients with multiple-vessel disease has a more severe aortic stiffness.