Echocardiographic evaluation of the arterial stiffness in healthy subjects and hypertensive patients under 60 years.

Objectives To determine the association of several parameters of arterial stiffness withdiastolic dysfunction and arterial hypertension in patients under 60 years.Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study that included 83 patients (healthy,n=43; hypertensive, n=40) assisted in the external consultation of the NationalCardiology and Cardiovascular Surgery Institute, from April to October,2009. We included clinical (age, sex, personal antecedents of smokinghabit, obesity, hypercholesterolemia, arterial hypertension) and echocardiographic(diastolic function, arterial stiffness index [β], pressure strain elasticmodulus [Ep], arterial compliance, local pulse wave velocity [LPWV]) variables.Results Arterial stiffness index [β], Ep and LPWV were significantly greater in thegroup of hypertensive patients vs healthy subjects (p<0,001) and hypertensivepatients with diastolic dysfunction vs hypertensive with normal diastolicfunction (p<0,001). We demonstrated a proportional and significant increasein the presence of diastolic dysfunction in patients withLPWV≥5m/seg and more than 5 years of hypertension, when compared tothose with LPWV≥5m/seg and less than 5 years of hypertension, andLPWV<5m/seg independently of the years of hypertension (30, 0% vs 20,0% vs 12, 5% vs 2, 5%, p=0,036, respectively).Conclusions Arterial stiffness showed a significant association with the presence of arterialhypertension and diastolic dysfunction.