A17107 Relationship between haemorheological parameters and endothelial functional characteristics in patients with arterial hypertension

Abstract

Objectives: Arterial hypertension (AH) is considered as an important risk factor for cardiac and cerebrovascular complications. In spite of established existence of endothelial dysfunction and microcirculatory changes in AH, there is still lack of data regarding an association between blood rheology and endothelial function. Aim of this study was to investigate relationships between haemorheological parameters and endothelial functional status in patients with AH. Methods: 57 patients with AH (mean age ± SD, 51.26 ± 1.94) and 17 healthy volunteers were included in the study. All the subjects were undergone to the investigation of blood rheology and high resolution vascular doppler-ultrasound of brachial artery. Correlation analyses between parameters were performed using Pearson's bivariate correlation coefficient. Results: Compared with normotensive subjects, hypertensive patients had significantly higher levels of all the haemorheological parameters, namely platelet adhesive and aggregative activity, fibrinogen concentration, plasma viscosity, erythrocyte aggregability and hematocrit level (P < 0.001). Flow-mediated vasodilatation (FMD%) was lower in hypertensives (6.49 ± 1.58 vs. 13.73 ± 1.21; P = 0.000). Initial (D0) and after reactive hyperemia test vascular diameters (D1) were practically similar in the two study groups (P = NS), but ΔD (D1-D0) was significantly higher in the control group (0.25 ± 0.06 vs. 0.54 ± 0.04; P = 0.000). Patients with AH in comparison with controls had statistically significant negative correlation between FMD%/ΔD and all the haemorheological parameters (P < 0.01). Conclusion: According to the study data, we can suggest that blood rheology and endothelial dysfunction are two interconnected systems which are getting deteriorated while AH and are associated with worse prognosis.