title: Self-measured (blood pressure) arterial stiffness index: A promising new measure of arterial stiffness.
abstract: Increased arterial stiffness is predictive of increased cardiovascular risk. The ambulatory arterial stiffness index is a new measure derived from 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure (BP) monitoring. We retrospectively studied 59 consecutive patients, (36 females; age 62 +/- 12 years), evaluated for hypertension in an academic cardiology practice. All had eight or more self-measured BP recorded over a period of 2 through 8 weeks while stable. The self-measured arterial stiffness index (SMASI) was calculated according to the same formula as the ambulatory arterial stiffness index, 1 minus the regression slope of the regression line of diastolic plotted against systolic BP. Mean SMASI was 62 +/- 0.20. SMASI correlated directly with age (r = 0.27; P = .03), BP load (r = 0.40; P = .002), home pulse pressure (r = 0.47; P < .001), and office pulse pressure (r = 0.44; P = .001). SMASI was higher in patients with multiple cardiovascular risk factors and correlated with pulse wave velocity (r = 0.45; P = .04) among 21 patients who underwent arterial tonometry. SMASI correlated with left ventricle (LV) mass/body surface area (BSA) (r = 0.30; P = .035) in 50 patients. SMASI increases with age, is associated with weaker BP control, hypertensive organ damage and correlates with pulse wave velocity. SMASI obtained by self-measured BP may serve as a useful surrogate measure of arterial stiffness.
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, State University of New York Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn, New York, USA.
authors.forename: Ghazanfar
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Qureshi
authors.forename: Jason M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Lazar
authors.forename: Hera
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Javaid
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Weber
authors.forename: Louis
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Salciccioli