The effect of age on the relationship of pulse pressure and left ventricular mass in untreated patients with mild to moderate hypertension.
OBJECTIVE
To study the relationship between left ventricular mass (LMV) and pulse pressure (PP) in mild to moderate hypertensive patients according to age and gender.


METHODS
Two hundred and eleven patients aged 18-65 years, 56% males, with untreated mild to moderate hypertension, were included. A 24-h ambulatory blood pressure (BP) profile was recorded in 204 patients. In 174 of them, an echocardiogram of good quality was obtained. PP was defined as the difference between systolic and diastolic BP.


RESULTS
Statistically significant differences were observed in office and ambulatory PP according to the age, with a greater PP among hypertensive subjects younger than 30. Globally, there was a significant correlation between LVM and PP, either with clinical PP (r = 0.17, p = 0.024) or with ambulatory PP (24-h PP: r = 0.18, p = 0.016). When stratifying by age group, the stronger correlations were observed in patients younger than 30. When stratifying by gender, previous results were applicable to men, but, in women, no correlation was observed between PP and LVM in either age group.


CONCLUSIONS
an increased PP was observed in hypertensive patients younger than 30 in comparison with middle-aged hypertensive patients. The correlation between LVM and PP was stronger in younger male hypertensive patients, but not in female.
Armario
Pedro
P
Department of Internal Medicine, L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, University of Barcelona, Spain. Pedro.Armario@chcr.scs.es
del
ReyRaquelHernández
R
Martín-Baranera
Montserrat
M
Andreu-Valls
Noemí
N
Ceresuela
Luis Miguel
LM
Pardell
Helios
H
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology*; D018660:Blood Pressure Monitoring, Ambulatory; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology* / Q000523:psychology; D017379:Hypertrophy, Left Ventricular / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009819:Office Visits; D012737:Sex Factors; D014463:Ultrasonography