title: Isolated clinic hypertension is not an innocent phenomenon: effect on the carotid artery structure.
abstract: This study examines the common carotid intimal-medial wall thickness (CCA-IMT) in untreated patients with elevated clinic blood pressure (BP) but normal ambulatory BP (isolated clinic hypertension, n = 22), in comparison with a group with elevated clinic and ambulatory BP (hypertensives, n = 41) and a group with normal clinic and ambulatory BP (normotensives, n = 17) readings. The three groups did not differ in age, male/female ratio, lipid profile, glucose tolerance test, or smoking habits. No difference existed in CCA-IMT values between the groups with hypertension (0.67 +/- 0.18 mm) and isolated clinic hypertension (0.68 +/- 0.14 mm), but the values in these two groups were significantly higher (one-way ANOVA; F = 8.09, P < .001) than in the group of normotensives (0.50 +/- 0.09 mm). The CCA-IMT did not correlate with clinic systolic or diastolic BP readings or with BP derivatives of 24-h ambulatory monitoring. Mean 24-h BP in the isolated clinic hypertensives did not differ from that in the normotensives, whereas both were lower than in the hypertensives. We conclude that changes in the CCA-IMT occuring in subjects with isolated clinic hypertension are equal to the changes in sustained hypertension, indicating that isolated clinic hypertension may not be a benign condition.
authors: Athens University, Department of Clinical Therapeutics, Greece.
authors: N
authors: N
authors: Zakopoulos
authors: C
authors: C
authors: Papamichael
authors: H
authors: H
authors: Papaconstantinou
authors: P A
authors: PA
authors: Dubbins
authors: C J
authors: CJ
authors: Burrell
authors: J
authors: J
authors: Lekakis
authors: S
authors: S
authors: Stamatelopoulos
authors: S
authors: S
authors: Moulopoulos
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D018660:Blood Pressure Monitoring, Ambulatory; D017536:Carotid Artery, Common / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008055:Lipids / Q000097:blood; D008297:Male; D016555:Matched-Pair Analysis; D008875:Middle Aged; D012907:Smoking; D017539:Tunica Intima / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D008055:Lipids