CORRELATION OF CAROTID INTIMA-MEDIA THICKNESS AND PULSE WAVE VELOCITY WITH HEMATOCRIT, PLATELET COUNT AND FIBRINOGEN LEVELS IN DIPPER AND NON-DIPPER HYPERTENSIVE PATIENTS

Abstract

Objective: Carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) and pulse wave velocity (PWV) are the two most widely recognized methods for the assessment of arterial stiffness. The aim of this study was to verify whether there is a correlation between them and some blood parameters in dipper and non-dipper hypertensive patients. Design and method: This was a cross-sectional study that included patients with arterial hypertension (AHT) who were greater than 18 years old. Demographic and epidemiological variables were collected. Blood pressure (BP) parameters were assessed by office BP measurements and 24-hour ambulatory BP monitoring (24 h ABPM). We collected blood samples for biochemistry, blood count and coagulation variables. Individuals were divided into two groups: dipper and non-dipper patients. Quantitative normally distributed variables were nalysed using the Student’s t-test while non-normally distributed variables were nalysed using the Mann–Whitney U-test. A Chi-square test was used for categorical variables to test differences between groups. This study was approved by the center Ethics Committee of Clinical Research, and it adhered to the ethical standards that were outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki. All subjects provided informed consent. Results: There were 563 patients (47% women) with a mean age of 54 years who were included in this study. One third of patients suffered from diabetes and two out of three had plasma lipid abnormalities. There were differences in age, frequency of diabetes, dyslipidemia and antihypertensive therapy between dipper and non-dipper patients. After an adjustment for those variables, we observed a relevant correlation of PTC (Pearson correlation coefficient [r] -0.215, P = 0.002) and hematocrit (r 0.215 P = 0.002) with IMT in patients with a dipper profile while individuals with a non-dipper BP pattern showed a correlation of PWV with PTC (r -0.149, P = 0.031) and fibrinogen levels (r 0.238, P = 0.031). Uric acid levels were correlated with IMT in both groups of patients. Conclusions: It seems that some blood parameters could be linked to the development of arterial stiffness in both dipper and non-dipper patients. This was a preliminary retrospective, single-center study that could open the door to the investigation of new analytical indices in arterial stiffness.