Comparison of Arterial Elasticity Between Healthy and Hypertensive

Objective To investigate the arterial elasticity of the healthy and hypertensive patients at different levels of age and blood pressure Methods Five hundred and fifty one subjects(303 males and 248 females; average age 56 9±13 4 years)including the healthy volunteers and hypertensive patients were recruited and grouped by the level of blood pressure and age Radial arterial pulse wave and arterial elastic index C 1 and C 2 were measured by DO 2020 arterial pulse contour instrument Results Both large arterial elastic index(C 1) and small arterial elastic index(C 2) were decreased with the ageing in the healthy and the hypertensives C 1 and C 2 were higher in male than in female in both healthy and hypertensives Adjusted for the age, C 1 and C 2 decreased with the elevation of blood pressure level C 1 was significantly lower in the hypertensive groups than in the normotensive groups In the high normal BP group C 2 was significantly lower than the optimal and normal BP groups However no difference was found in C 1 and C 2 between normal and optimal BP cohort and stage 1 hypertension cohort Both C 1 and C 2 correlated with age, systolic pressure, diastolic pressure, pulse pressure and heart rate significantly, while pulse pressure is the most significant variable for C 1( r =-0 602, P 0 01), and C 2( r =-0 457, P 0 01) Conclusion (1) Both age and high blood pressure contribute to the degeneration of the arterial elasticity significantly (2) small arterial elastic index (C 2) is a sensitive marker, which may be helpful to find patients with clinical silent vascular stiffness