title: [Impact of blood pressure control on the ankle-brachial index in hypertensive patients].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The guidelines for arterial hypertension recommend a systematic determination of ankle-brachial index (ABI) in the initial risk stratification in hypertensive patients, while not indicating whether controls should be evolutionary. Our aim was to analyze the evolution of the ABI value in hypertensive patients in terms of control of blood pressure (BP) after one year follow-up.
  
  
  METHODS
  We included 209 hypertensive patients, in whom ABI was determined at baseline and after one year of antihypertensive treatment. Patients were divided into 2 groups in terms of good/poor clinical control of BP (<140/90 mmHg).
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 82.8% of the population showed a good control of the BP after one year of treatment and it was associated with significant increase in the ABI value (1.081 versus 1.046 at baseline, P=.002). By contrast, there was no difference of ABI value in patients with poor BP control (1.054 versus 1.093 at baseline).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A good clinical control of BP is associated with an increase in the value of the ABI.
authors.affiliation: Unidad de Hipertensión Arterial, Servicio de Cardiología, Hospital Universitario San Juan, Alicante, Spain.
authors.forename: Julián
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Roldán
authors.forename: Pedro
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Morillas
authors.forename: Juan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Quiles
authors.forename: Jesús
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Castillo
authors.forename: Helder
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Andrade
authors.forename: Vicente
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Bertomeu-Martínez
mesh_terms: D055109:Ankle Brachial Index; D001795:Blood Pressure Determination; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000628:therapy*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies