title: Visit-to-visit blood pressure variability is a marker of cardiac diastolic function and carotid atherosclerosis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The associations between visit-to-visit blood pressure (BP) variability and cardiac function and carotid atherosclerosis is not clear.
  
  
  METHODS
  Study subjects were 144 subjects (80 were female, aged 73 ± 9 years) who underwent echocardiography and cervical ultrasonography. The ratio of early ventricular filling velocity to early diastolic mitral annular velocity (E/e'), ejection fraction, left ventricular mass index (LVMI), and maximum intima-media thickness (max-IMT) of the carotid artery were compared between the highest (high variability) and lowest (low variability) tertiles of the standard deviation of systolic BP (9.9 ± 3.5 mmHg).
  
  
  RESULTS
  E/e' and max-IMT were significantly greater in the high variability group than in the low variability group after adjusting for age, sex, baseline systolic BP, and other covariates (high variability vs. low variability; E/e': 13.03 ± 5.33 vs. 10.66 ± 3.30, multivariate-adjusted difference (β) = 1.82, 95% confidence interval 0.06-3.58; max-IMT: 1.65 ± 0.43 mm vs. 1.42 ± 0.46 mm, β = 0.20 mm, 95% confidence interval 0.03-0.36 mm). There were no significant differences in LVMI or ejection fraction.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results indicate that high visit-to-visit BP variability is associated with diastolic function and carotid atherosclerosis, and is a possible risk factor for diastolic dysfunction and atherosclerosis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Preventive Medicine, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, 65 Tsurumai-cho, Showa-ku, Nagoya 466-8550, Japan. rieokada@med.nagoya-u.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Rieko
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Okada
authors.forename: Akira
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Okada
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Okada
authors.forename: Mamoru
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nanasato
authors.forename: Kenji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Wakai
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001794:Blood Pressure; D002340:Carotid Artery Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D059168:Carotid Intima-Media Thickness; D003971:Diastole; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009333:Neck / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D009819:Office Visits; D013318:Stroke Volume