Fourier analysis of the envelope of the ophthalmic artery blood flow velocity: age- and blood pressure related impact.

The harmonic content of the envelope waveform of the blood flow velocity in the ophthalmic artery was analyzed in aging and arterial hypertension. The case-control study enrolled 98 healthy men (age: 44.0+/-15.6 years), 100 healthy women (age: 44.5+/-19.1 years), which is group 1, and overall 199 hypertensive patients with increased systolic and diastolic blood pressure (in millimeters of mercury) before registration of the blood flow velocity using pulsed Doppler sonography. Group 2 was sufficiently treated (140/140/>90) were insufficiently treated, and group 4 (>140/140/>90) were untreated. Cronbach-alpha reliability of the calculated spectral coefficient and SI (SI) was 0.88 and 0.93, respectively. In control subjects, the SI was influenced by age (men: 45.1%; women: 50.2%; P<0.001 each) and in women additionally by mean arterial pressure (13.1%; P<0.001). The SI differed in subjects >43 years of age (men: 0.37+/-0.11; women: 0.26+/-0.08; P<0.001 each) as compared with subjects