Effect of duration of hypertension on arterial stiffness

Abstract

Background: Hypertension is one of the common and prime causes contributing to 18% of deaths globally. Prevalence of essential hypertension increases with age, and individuals with relatively high blood pressure at younger ages are at increased risk for the subsequent complications of hypertension. The morphological and physiological changes in vasculature have been described in the evolution and maintenance of hypertension. Hypertension can increase the risk of cerebral, cardiac, and renal events. Aims and Objectives: (1) To record the arterial stiffness index (SI) and reflection index (RI) in subjects with hypertension and a control group of age-matched normotensives. (2) To compare the above vascular parameters between control and hypertensive subjects. (3) To classify the hypertensive subjects based on the duration of the disease and compare the vascular parameters among them. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study on 160 subjects aged between 30 and 60 years was conducted. Institutional ethical committee approval and informed written consent were obtained. They were divided into four groups. Group 1- control group (Healthy subjects), and study group of hypertensives are classified into three groups based on the duration of illness. Arterial stiffness was evaluated by SI and RI, calculated from recording digital volume pulse (DVP). DVP was measured by an instrument known as finger pulse photo plethysmography. Results: The results were analyzed using analysis of variance test and were considered statistically significant with P < 0.05 with respect to arterial stiffness indices compared with the duration of hypertension. Conclusion: This study concludes a strong positive correlation between two indices of arterial stiffness that is the RI and SI values increases with the duration of hypertension.