Height and sex is strongly associated with radial augmentation index in Korean patients with never-treated hypertension

Abstract

Objectives

Central hemodynamics may better represent the load imposed on the coronary and cerebral arteries and thereby bear a stronger relationship to cardiovascular outcomes.

Methods

Patients who had confirmed hypertension as assessed by daytime 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (≥135/85 mmHg) were enrolled. Central blood pressure and radial augmentation index (AIx) corrected for a heart rate of 75 bpm (radial AIx 75) were measured for all patients. We evaluated the association of age, height, and sex with central hemodynamics in patients with never-treated hypertension.

Results

A total of 203 patients were enrolled, of whom men numbered 101 (49.7%). The median height of all patients was 162 cm, and mean age was 53.2 years. In the Pearson correlation analysis, regardless of sex difference (R=−0.627 for height, R=0.035 for age, P-value =0.005), a stronger relationship was observed between height and radial AIx 75 than between age and radial AIx 75. In the multiple regression analysis, the sex difference and height were strongly associated with elevated radial AIx 75 in all patients (adjusted R²=0.428, β=6.237, 95% confidence interval [CI] for women 1.480–10.995, P-value =0.011 and β=−0.632, 95% CI for height −0.929 to −0.335, P-value =0.009, respectively).

Conclusion

In patients with never-treated hypertension, female sex and shorter height are the important risk factors of elevated radial AIx 75.

Keywords:

• hypertension
• augmentation index
• height
• sex

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education (NRF-2014R1A6A1029617) and Chungnam National University Hospital Research Fund.

Disclosure

The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.