Aortic pulse wave velocity is associated with measures of subclinical target organ damage in patients with mild hypertension.

We evaluated the temporal association between aortic arterial stiffness and subclinical target organ damage, including renal function decline, left ventricular geometric remodeling, and left ventricular diastolic dysfunction in patients with mild hypertension. Automatic pulse wave velocity (PWV) measuring system was applied to examine carotid-femoral PWV (CFPWV) reflecting aortic arterial stiffness in 644 essential hypertensive patients. Clinical data were collected, and cardiac structure and function were assessed by echocardiography. CFPWV was significantly and positively associated with left ventricular mass index (r = 0.153, P = 0.018), relative wall thickness (r = 0.235, P < 0.001), and left atrial diameter (r = 0.192, P = 0.003), and negatively with E/A ratio (r = -0.361, P < 0.001) and creatinine clearance (r = -0.248, P < 0.001). Logistic regression analysis demonstrated that CFPWV remained significantly correlated with renal function decline (P = 0.011), left ventricular diastolic dysfunction (P = 0.009) and left ventricular geometric remodeling (P = 0.020). Higher CFPWV was independently associated with greater burden of subclinical disease in renal impairment, left ventricular geometric remodeling and diastolic dysfunction.