title: Awake blood pressure variability, inflammatory markers and target organ damage in newly diagnosed hypertension.
abstract: Increased blood pressure (BP) may stimulate vascular inflammation, which may itself induce pathological arterial changes. BP variability has been associated with target-organ damage and future cardiovascular complications. We hypothesized that BP variability, as derived from ambulatory BP monitoring, is related to inflammatory markers in newly diagnosed hypertension. Systolic (S) and diastolic (D) BP variabilities were assessed as the SD of 24-h pressure recordings in a cohort of 190 recently (<6 months) diagnosed, untreated hypertensive subjects. Target organ damage, assessed by measuring the carotid artery intima-media thickness, left ventricular mass index, and microalbuminuria, was related to plasma high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) and soluble (s) E-selectin, an endothelium-specific molecule. The patients' age (mean+/-SD) was 53.0+/-8.5 years, and 59% were male. Multivariable analysis identified awake SBP variability (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.002-0.042, p=0.034) as an independent correlate of hsCRP and awake SBP (95% CI: 0.003-0.014, p=0.003), awake SBP variability (95% CI: 0.003-0.035, p=0.018), and microalbuminuria (95% CI: 0.075-0.280, p=0.001) as independent correlates of sE-selectin. When patients were divided into low and high awake SBP variability groups, age (p=0.001), hsCRP (p=0.0001), and sE-selectin (p=0.005) were significantly different in the two groups. After adjusting for age, these differences remained significant (p=0.022 and p=0.001 for hsCRP and sE-selectin, respectively). In recently diagnosed hypertensive subjects, hsCRP and sE-selectin levels are related to awake SBP variability. High SBP variability is likely associated with vascular inflammation in newly diagnosed hypertension, independent of SBP. (Hypertens Res 2008; 31: 2137-2146).
authors.affiliation: Institutes of Cardiology, Center of Excellence on Aging, "G. d'Annunzio" University.
authors.forename: Alfonso
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tatasciore
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zimarino
authors.forename: Giulia
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Renda
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zurro
authors.forename: Manola
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Soccio
authors.forename: Concetta
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Prontera
authors.forename: Michele
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Emdin
authors.forename: Mariarosaria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Flacco
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Schillaci
authors.forename: Raffaele
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: DE Caterina
mesh_terms: D000419:Albuminuria / Q000652:urine; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000378:metabolism; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology*; D002097:C-Reactive Protein / Q000378:metabolism*; D002339:Carotid Arteries / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D003243:Consciousness / Q000502:physiology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D019040:E-Selectin / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D006352:Heart Ventricles / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D007249:Inflammation / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D014463:Ultrasonography
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D019040:E-Selectin; D002097:C-Reactive Protein