Atherogenic index of plasma is related to arterial stiffness but not to blood pressure in normotensive and never-treated hypertensive subjects

Figures & data

Table 1. Age and sex adjusted characteristics of the study population in tertiles of atherogenic index of plasma.

	Overall	Tertile 1	Tertile 2	Tertile 3
Male / female (n/n)	314 /301	104 / 98	106 / 102	104 / 101
Age (years)	44.9 (11.9)	44.7 (12.3)	44.1 (11.9)	44.9 (11.6)
BMI (kg/m^2)	26.8 (4.4)	25.1 (3.7)	26.4 (4.0)*	28.9 (4.7)*^†
Alcohol (standard doses/week)	4.5 (5.7)	3.9 (5.4)	4.2 (5.3)	5.2 (6.4)
Smokers (number / percentage)	76 / 12.4%	19 / 9.4%	27 / 13%	30 / 14.6%
Office blood pressure (mmHg)
Systolic	140.6 (20.6)	135.7 (19.8)	140.2 (20.3)	145.7 (20.7)*^†
Diastolic	89.5 (12.3)	86.1 (12.1)	89.5 (12.7)*	93.0 (11.4)*^†
eGFR (ml/min per 1.73 m^2)	98.8 (18.1)	102.6 (16.8)	97.9 (18.2)*	95.1 (18.7)*
QUICKI	0.360 (0.042)	0.375 (0.048)	0.360 (0.037)*	0.341 (0.040)*^†
Creatinine (μmol/l)	74.0 (13.5)	72.4 (13.2)	75.0 (13.0)	73.8 (14.3)
Cystatin C (mg/l)	0.85 (0.15)	0.81 (0.14)	0.85 (0.14)*	0.87 (0.15)*
Sodium (mmol/l)	140.4 (2.0)	141.0 (2.0)	140.3 (1.8)	140.3 (2.1)
Potassium (mmol/l)	3.81 (0.28)	3.80 (0.29)	3.78 (0.27)	3.83 (0.28)
Uric acid (μmol/l)	303 (76)	280 (71)	300 (70)*	327 (81)*^†
CRP (mg/l)	1.7 (2.9)	1.3 (2.3)	1.4 (1.7)	2.4 (4.0)*^†
Total cholesterol (mmol/l)	5.2 (1.0)	4.83 (1.0)	5.17 (1.0)*	5.44 (1.0)*^†
Triglycerides (mmol/l)	1.23 (0.77)	0.70 (0.21)	1.09 (0.33)*	1.92 (0.92)*^†
HDL-C (mmol/l)	1.58 (0.44)	1.90 (0.40)	1.58 (0.37)*	1.30 (0.34)*^†
LDL-C (mmol/l)	3.1 (1.0)	2.70 (0.90)	3.12 (0.90)*	3.40 (1.0)*^†
Atherogenic index	−0.15 (0.31)	−0.44 (0.17)	−0.17 (0.16)*	0.15 (0.23)*^†
Insulin (mU/L)	8.89 (17.0)	8.1 (28.4)	7.6 (4.7)	10.9 (7.10)
Glucose (mmol/l)	5.44 (0.59)	5.33 (0.62)	5.40 (0.52)	5.60 (0.58)*^†

Mean (standard deviation),*p < .05 vs Tertile 1; ^†p < .05 vs Tertile 2. BMI: body mass index; eGFR: cystatin C based CDK-EPI formula for estimated glomerular filtration rate [30]; QUICKI: quantitative insulin sensitivity check index [29]; CRP: C-reactive protein; HDL-C: high density lipoprotein cholesterol; LDL-C: low density lipoprotein cholesterol.

Table 2. Explanatory factors for haemodynamic variables in linear regression analyses with stepwise elimination.

Radial systolic BP: model 1 (R squared 0.278)				Radial systolic BP: model 2 (R squared 0.338)
	B	Beta	p		B	Beta	p
(Constant)	5.667		.915	(Constant)	−54.968		.281
eGFR	−0.265	−0.251	<.001	PWV	81.530	0.396	<.001
BMI	0.613	0.142	.001	QUICKI	−53.779	−0.120	.001
Male sex	5.257	0.137	<.001	eGFR	−0.207	−0.196	<.001
LDL-C	3.242	0.162	<.001	Male sex	3.270	0.086	.021
Sodium	1.000	0.102	.006	Sodium	1.089	0.111	.002
QUICKI	−45.295	−0.101	.010	LDL-C	2.220	0.111	.006
Present smoker	−4.690	−0.081	.025	Age	−0.209	−0.130	.011
Radial diastolic BP: model 1 (R squared 0.274)				Radial diastolic BP: model 2 (R squared 0.333)
	B	Beta	p		B	Beta	p
(Constant)	21.741		.540	(Constant)	−37.667		.254
eGFR	−0.199	−0.282	<.001	PWV	54.136	0.393	<.001
LDL-C	2.227	0.166	<.001	eGFR	−0.157	−0.222	<.001
QUICKI	−31.547	−0.105	.008	QUICKI	−33.656	−0.112	.002
Male sex	2.851	0.112	.003	LDL-C	1.622	0.121	.003
High alcohol intake	8.612	0.096	.008	Sodium	0.661	0.101	.004
Present smoker	−3.173	−0.082	.024	Age	−0.150	−0.140	.006
BMI	0.276	0.096	.024	High alcohol intake	6.602	0.074	.033
Sodium	0.495	0.076	.042
Heart rate: model 1 (R squared 0.108)				Heart rate: model 2 (R squared 0.171)
	B	Beta	p		B	Beta	p
(Constant)	80.017		<.001	(Constant)	51.106		<.001
QUICKI	−38.761	−0.172	<.001	PWV	43.525	0.421	<.001
CRP	2.310	0.096	.023	QUICKI	−42.282	−0.188	<.001
Male sex	−3.532	−0.184	<.001	Male sex	−4.161	−0.217	<.001
Atherogenic index	4.485	0.143	.003	Age	−0.215	−0.266	<.001
Moderate alcohol intake	3.798	0.111	.006	Moderate alcohol intake	4.584	0.134	.001
				Previous smoker	−1.709	−0.082	.037
Pulse wave velocity: model 1 (R squared 0.582)				Pulse wave velocity: model 2 (R squared 0.616)
	B	Beta	p		B	Beta	p
(Constant)	0.482		<.001	(Constant)	0.444		<.001
Age	0.004	0.567	<.001	Age	0.004	0.508	<.001
Atherogenic index	0.030	0.100	.007	Aortic systolic BP	0.001	0.239	<.001
Heart rate	0.002	0.197	<.001	Atherogenic index	0.044	0.145	<.001
Uric acid	0.0002	0.129	.001	Heart rate	0.002	0.174	<.001
Present smoker	−0.024	−0.086	.002	Uric acid	0.0002	0.161	<.001
LDL-C	0.007	0.076	.021	Present smoker	−0.021	−0.076	.004
BMI	0.002	0.079	.020
Male sex	0.015	0.080	.023

Variables in model 1: age, sex, BMI, smoking status, categorised alcohol consumption, QUICKI, Lg₁₀ of plasma CRP, sodium, uric acid, LDL-C, atherogenic index, and eGFR [30], and for PWV also heart rate. Model 2: model 1 + PWV; for PWV model 2: model 1 + aortic systolic BP.

Blood pressure (BP), coefficient of regression (B), standardized coefficient of regression (Beta), cystatin C based CDK-EPI formula for estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) [30], body mass index (BMI), low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), quantitative insulin sensitivity check index (QUICKI) [29]; the skewed distributions of C-reactive protein (CRP) and pulse wave velocity (PWV) were Lg₁₀ transformed.

Figure 1. Averages of radial systolic (A) and diastolic (B) blood pressure, and aortic systolic (C) and diastolic (D) blood pressure in age- and sex-adjusted tertiles of atherogenic index of plasma (AIP) during 5-minute recordings in the supine position. Tertile 1 (n = 202), Tertile 2 (n = 208), and Tertile 3 (n = 205); mean and 95% confidence interval; *p < .05 vs Tertile 1; ^†p < .05 vs Tertile 2, one-way ANOVA.

Figure 2. Averages of heart rate (A), cardiac index (B), and systemic vascular resistance index (C) in age- and sex-adjusted atherogenic index of plasma (AIP) during 5-minute recordings in the supine position; mean and 95% confidence interval; *p < .05 vs Tertile 1; ^†p < .05 vs Tertile 2, one-way ANOVA.

Figure 3. Averages of augmentation index adjusted to heart rate of 75 beats per minute (A), and pulse wave velocity (B) in age- and sex-adjusted atherogenic index of plasma (AIP) during 5-minute recordings in the supine position; mean and 95% confidence interval; *p < .05 vs Tertile 1; ^†p < .05 vs Tertile 2, one-way ANOVA.

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Katz A, Nambi SS, Mather K, et al. Quantitative insulin sensitivity check index: a simple, accurate method for assessing insulin sensitivity in humans. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2000;85:2402–2410.

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Data availability

Analyses and generated datasets that support the current study are not available publicly. The datasets are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.