Arterial stiffness is increased in healthy subjects with a positive family history of hypertension

Abstract

A positive family history of hypertension is a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases. We investigated the value of pulse wave velocity (PWV) in healthy subjects with a positive family history of hypertension. 255 healthy subjects (M/F: 75/180) were divided into two groups according to without (group 1) or with (group 2) a positive family history of hypertension. Carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (CF-PWV) was measured by Complior apparatus. Our results showed that CF-PWV was significantly higher in group 2 than in group 1 (7.90 ± 1.31 versus 7.32 ± 1.15 m/s, p < 0.001). High-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) was significantly higher in group 1 than in group 2. Multiple linear regressions showed that age, family history, GLU, and MAP were independent influencing factors of CF-PWV in the entire study group. Our present study showed PWV is significantly higher in healthy subjects with a positive family history of hypertension. Family history might play an important role in this process.

• Arterial stiffness
• arteriosclerosis
• family history
• hypertension
• pulse wave velocity

Declaration of interest

The authors report that they have no conflicts of interest. This work was supported by grants from The Capital Health Research and Development of Special to H. Y. Wang (No. 2011-4026-02), and the Hospital Fund of Peking University Shougang Hospital to Hongyu Wang (No. 2010-Y002 and 2014-Hospital-Clinical-02) and Jinbo Liu (No. 2012Y04), and Shougang Keji Fund (2013 Keguan 20-1), and the Seeding Grant for Medicine and Engineering Sciences of Peking University (2014-ME-07).