Abstract 14746: Pulse Pressure More Strongly Associates With Subclinical Myocardial Injury Than Do Systolic and Diastolic Blood Pressures

Abstract

Introduction: Long-standing hypertension is associated with subclinical myocardial injury expressed as chronically elevated cardiac troponin concentrations. Subclinical myocardial injury and subsequent diffuse myocardial fibrosis may represent important intermediaries between hypertension and risk of heart failure and cardiovascular (CV) death. The relative strength of the associations between systolic blood pressure (BP), diastolic BP and pulse pressure and subclinical myocardial injury is unknown. Aim: To assess the relative impact of systolic BP, diastolic BP and pulse pressure on subclinical myocardial injury. Methods: Cardiac troponin I (cTnI) was measured by a high-sensitivity assay (Abbott Diagnostics) in 32,968 participants of the fourth wave of the Trøndelag Health Study (HUNT4) from 2017 to 2019. The longitudinal substudy included participants from HUNT4 who also had BP measurements from the third wave of HUNT (HUNT3) from 2006 to 2008. This included 18,681 study participants. All study participants with a history of CV disease were excluded prior to analysis. We defined subclinical myocardial injury as cTnI ≥4ng/L for women and ≥6ng/L for men, and used logistic regression models adjusted for established CV risk factors. Results: The mean age was 52 (SD±17) years, and 56.9% were female. Cross-sectionally, pulse pressure was more strongly associated with subclinical myocardial injury (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 1.08, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.06-1.10) compared to systolic BP (aOR 1.05, 95% CI 1.04-1.06) and diastolic BP (aOR 1.02, 95% CI 0.99-1.04). Longitudinally, change in diastolic BP was the only BP variable associated with subclinical myocardial injury (aOR 1.03, 95% CI 1.01-1.06), compared to change in systolic BP (aOR 1.01, 95% CI 0.99-1.02) and change in pulse pressure (aOR 0.99, 95% 0.97-1.01, p for all comparisons < 0.05). Conclusions: At a given time, pulse pressure is the superior BP variable in predicting subclinical myocardial injury. Over time, only change in diastolic BP is associated with subclinical myocardial injury. High pulse pressure and longitudinal changes in diastolic BP could represent hypertension phenotypes at high risk for subclinical myocardial injury and subsequent increased CV risk.