title: Factors associated with increased radial augmentation index in hypertensive individuals.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Arterial stiffness is a variable predictor of morbidity and mortality and a possible marker of vascular injury. Its non-invasive assessment by radial tonometry and analysis of the augmentation index (r-AI) allows identifying patients exposed to higher cardiovascular risk.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To analyze the influence of r-AI on clinical-biochemical variables and its influence on the prevalence of target-organ damage in hypertensive patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  140 consecutive hypertensive patients, followed-up in an outpatient clinic, were analyzed in a cross-sectional study. Blood pressure (BP) levels and r-AI were obtained by applanation tonometry of the radial artery (HEM-9000AI, Onrom). The patients were allocated into r-AI tertiles (r-AI < 85%; 85< r-AI < 97%; r-AI > 97%).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The sample was predominantly composed of women (56.4%), mean age of 61.7 ± 11.7 years and body mass index 29.6 ± 6.1 Kg/m². The highest tertile showed higher proportion of women (p = 0.001), higher systolic BP (p = 0.001) and pulse pressure (p = 0.014), and lower weight (p = 0.044), height (p < 0.001) and heart rate (p < 0.001). Multivariate analysis demonstrated that weight (β = -0.001, p = 0.017), heart rate (β = -0.001, p = 0.007) and central pressure (β = 0.015, p < 0.001) correlated independently with r-AI. In logistic regression analyses, the 3rd r-AI tertile was associated to lower levels of diabetes (DM) (OR = 0.41; 95% CI 0.17-0.97; p = 0.042).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study demonstrated that weight, heart rate and central BP were independently related to r-AI.
authors.affiliation: Clínica de Hipertensão, Departamento de Medicina Interna, Faculdade de Medicina de São José do Rio Preto, São Paulo, SP. renanovmelo@gmail.com
authors.forename: Renan Oliveira
authors.initials: RO
authors.lastname: Vaz-de-Melo
authors.forename: Adriana Giubilei
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Pimenta
authors.forename: Luiz Tadeu
authors.initials: LT
authors.lastname: Giollo
authors.forename: Débora Dada
authors.initials: DD
authors.lastname: Martinelli
authors.forename: Carolina Neves Cosenso
authors.initials: CN
authors.lastname: Sacomani
authors.forename: Juan Carlos
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Yugar-Toledo
authors.forename: José Paulo
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Cipullo
authors.forename: Marco Antônio Mota
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Gomes
authors.forename: Heitor
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Moreno
authors.forename: José Fernand
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Vilela-Martin
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000368:Aged; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology*; D001835:Body Weight / Q000502:physiology; D048909:Diabetes Complications; D004548:Elasticity; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000503:physiopathology*; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D017534:Radial Artery / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012307:Risk Factors; D055815:Young Adult