Effects of atorvastatin on pulse wave velocity and ankle-brachial index in elderly people with essential hypertension

Objective To investigate the effect of atorvastatin on pulse wave velocity(PWV)and ankle-brachialindex(ABI)in elderly people with essential hypertension.Methods 96 elderly patients with essential hypertension were randomly divided into two groups as the control group(n=50)and the treatment group(n=46),Each group received regular anti-hypertension treatment,the treatment group were adminisrered orally atorvastatin(20mg/d)for three months.Blood pressure,blood fat,PWV and ABI were examined in all the patients before or after the treatment.Results Serum total cholesterol(TC),low density lipoprotein cholesterol(LDL-C)and triglyceride(TG)in the patients with atorvastatin treatment decrease more,but high-density lipoprotein cholesterol(HDL-C)increase more(P0.05).The levels of SBP,DBP and PP were low in the both two groups,and the decrease degree of SBP or PP was more,compared with the control group(P0.05).In addition,PWV were more decreased and ABI increased more after than before the treatment in two groups(P0.05).However,compared with control group,the degree of decrease on PWV and increase on ABI in atorvastatin group were more(P0.05).Conclusion Atorvastatin can reduce blood pressure,decrease PWV and increase ABI in elderly people with essential hypertension.