Effect of antihypertensive therapy on brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity in patients with essential hypertension / 中华老年医学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the effect of antihypertensive therapy on brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV) in patients with essential hypertension (EH). Methods The 150 EH patients (EH group)receiving antihypertensive therapy with valsartan 80 mg/d, and 135 healthy controls (control group) were enrolled in this study. Automatic pulse wave velocity (PWV)measurement system was employed to examine baPWV, and the investigation about cardiac risk factors, physical and laboratory examination was performed. The baPWV was used as an index to show artery stiffness.Results The baPWV was significantly higher in EH group than in control group [(2105.8±378.4) cm/svs. (1371.5±176.5) cm/s, t=4.05, P＜0.001]. The detection rate of atherosclerosis was 82.0% and 21.8% in EH and control group respectively. In EH group, there were positive relationships between age and baPWV (r= 0.51, P＜0. 001), SBP and baPWV (r=0.53, P＜0.001), pulse pressure (PP) and baPWV (r=0.43, P＜0. 05), PP index (PPI) and baPWV (r=0.51, P＜0.05), blood glucose and baPWV (r=0.39, P＜0.01). The baPWV decreased significantly from (2105.8±378.4) cm/s to (1704.2±332.0) cm/s (t=3.85, P＜0. 05) in EH group. The baPWV was significantly lower in the subgroup with a target BP than without a target BP in EH patients [(1588.8±278.7) vs. (1857.7±324.9) cm/s, t=3.67, P＜0.001].Conclusions The age and SBP are primary risk factors for baPWV in EH patients. The antihypertensive therapy can relieve baPWV with a target blood pressure.