Hypertensive target organ damage is better associated with central than brachial blood pressure: The Northern Shanghai Study.

To compare central and brachial blood pressure (BP) in the association of target organ damage (TOD) in a community-based elderly population, 1599 (aged 71.4 ± 6.1 years) participants in northern Shanghai were recruited. TOD included left ventricular hypertrophy (n = 1556), left ventricular diastolic dysfunction (n = 1524), carotid plaque (n = 1558), arteriosclerosis (n = 1485), and microalbuminuria (n = 1516). Both central and brachial BP significantly correlated with TOD. In full-model regression, central BP was significantly associated with all TOD (P ≤ .04), whereas brachial BP was only significantly associated with left ventricular hypertrophy and arteriosclerosis (P ≤ .01). Similarly, in stepwise regression, central BP was significantly associated with left ventricular hypertrophy, left ventricular diastolic dysfunction, arteriosclerosis, and microalbuminuria (P ≤ .04), while brachial BP was not associated with any TOD. Receiver operating characteristic analyses indicated that central BP identified arteriosclerosis and microalbuminuria better than brachial BP (P ≤ .01). In conclusion, central BP showed superiority over brachial BP in the association of hypertensive TOD in a community-based elderly population.