The relationship among the degree of carotid artery atherosclerosis, adiponectin and microalbuminuria in aged patients with essential hypertension

Objective To investigate the relationship among the degree of carotid artery atherosclerosis,adiponectin (APN)and microalbuminuria (MAU)in aged patients with essential hypertension.Methods Consecutive 80 aged patients with essential hypertension were divided into two groups according to the MAU level:the group of patients with MAU (n =40) and the group of patients with normoalbuminuria (NMAU,n =40).And 40 healthy people were enrolled as healthy control group (n =40) MAU,APN and carotid artery intimamedia thickness (IMT) were determined in three groups.Results The levels of APN in MAU group were lower than those in NMAU group and healthy control group (P ＜ 0.05) ; The levels of IMT in MAU group were thinker than those in NMAU group and healthy control group (P ＜ 0.05) ; There were correlations of level of MAU and concentration of APN,IMT in aged patients with EH (P ＜ 0.05).Conclusions The concentration of serum adiponection and carotid artery atherosclerosis are closely correlated with MAU in aged patients with essential hypertension. Key words: Microalbuminuria;  Adiponectin ;  Atherosclerosis ;  Essential hypertension