Relationship between resting heart rate and carotid artery structure in young hypertensive patients / 中华流行病学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the relationship between resting heart rate (RHR)and carotid artery structure in young hypertensive patients.Methods A total of 663 primary hypertensive patients aged between 18 and 45 (38.01 ± 5.78) were chosen from the First Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University from January,2009 to January,2012.Patients under this study were divided into three groups according to their RHRsgroup A (RHR＜70 bpm,n=163),group B(70 bpm≤RHR＜80 bpm,n=268),group C (RHR≥80 bpm,n=232).Data on bilateral carotid artery intima-media thickness,common carotid artery diameter were detected by carotid ultra-sonography.Indexes of carotid artery were analyzed by both variance and bi-variate correlation analysis.Results 1)Differences in the blood pressure among three groups showed statistical significance (P＜0.01),with diastolic pressure in group A higher than in group B (P＜0.05),while both systolic and diastolic pressure in group C higher than in group B (P＜0.01).2)In group A,the right carotid artery diameter was higher than in group C(P＜0.05) and the left carotid artery diameter higher than in group B(P＜ 0.05) with the left carotid artery diameter higher than in group C (P＜0.05).3) Significant positive correlations were found between RHR and blood pressure (r =0.112,0.118) and negative correlation between RHR and left carotid artery diameter (r=-0.89).However,correlation between RHR and right carotid artery diameter was not significant (r=-0.075,P=0.068).Conclusion When blood pressure had an increase,we found that the carotid artery diameter was decreasing along with the increasing RHR among the young hypertensive patients.