Abstract WP218: Increased Systolic Blood Pressure Variability Among Diabetic Patients is Associated With Higher Risk of Incident Stroke: A Secondary Analysis of ACCORDION

Abstract

Background: Increased blood pressure variability (BPV) has been associated with stroke risk, but never specifically in patients with diabetes. Methods: This is a secondary analysis of the Action to Control Cardiovascular Risk in Diabetes Follow-On Study (ACCORDION), the long term follow-up extension of ACCORD. Visit-to-visit BPV was analyzed using all BP readings during the first 36 months. The primary outcome was incident ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke after 36 months. Differences in mean BPV was tested with Student’s t-test. We fit Cox proportional hazards models to estimate the adjusted risk of stroke across lowest vs. highest quintile of BPV and report hazard ratios along with 95% confidence intervals (CI). Results: Our analysis included 9,241 patients, with a mean (SD) age of 62.7 (6.6) years and 61.7% were male. Mean (SD) follow-up was 5.7 (2.4) years and number of BP readings per patient was 12.0 (4.3). Systolic, but not diastolic, BPV was higher in patients who developed stroke (Table 1). The highest quintile of SBP SD was associated with increased risk of incident stroke, independent of mean blood pressure or other potential confounders. (Table 2, Figure 1). There was no interaction between SBP SD and treatment arm assignment, although the interaction for glucose approached significance (Table 2). Conclusion: Higher systolic BPV was associated with incident stroke in a large cohort of diabetic patients. Future trials of stroke prevention may benefit from interventions targeting BPV reduction.