Arterial wall stiffness in patients with essential hypertension at young age

Research objective was investigating arterial wall stiffness in patients with hypertension at young age and assessing the relationship between subclinical target organs damage and ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) parameters. 30 male patients aged 18-35 years with essential hypertension stage I and II, hypertension 1 and 2nd grade were surveyed. The examination included general clinical methods, echocardiography, ABPM and suprasystolic sfigmography. It was found that the pulse wave velocity (PWVao) (r = 0,557 p <0,01), central aortic blood pressure (SBPao) (r = 0,492 p <0,01) and augmentation index (AIxao) (r = 0,489 p <0.01) significantly increased with the pa¬tients’ age. Abdominal obesity (r = 0,566 p <0,01) and BMI (r = 0,599 p <0,01) impacted on the PWVao acceleration. Increasing of the left ventricular mass index (LVMI) is highly associated with SBPao (r = 0,506 p <0,05) and PWVao (r = 0,434 p <0,05). According to ABPM the most significant correlation with arterial wall stiffness parameters demon¬strated diastolic blood pressure (DBP) daytime level (AIxao (r = 0,418 p <0,01), with PWVao (r = 0,699 p <0.01) and SBPao (r = 0,695 p <0,01)). Thus, age, excessive body weight and obesity should be considered as unfavorable factors that worsen arterial wall stiffness in patients with hypertension at the age before 35 years. Increase of DBP levels especially during the day causes maximum negative impact on the arterial wall stiffness parameters according to ABPM. Increased SBPao and PWVao in patients with hypertension at a young age are associated with increased left ventricular mass index.