Pulse wave velocity and other indicators of arterial stiffness in hypertension comorbidity and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

AIM

The aim is to study pulse wave velocity (PWV) and other parameters of arterial stiffness in patients with comorbid arterial hypertension (AH) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

MATERIALS AND METHODS

32 patients with a combination of AH and COPD (group 1), 30 patients with isolated hypertension (group 2), 18 patients with isolated COPD (group 3), 30 healthy subjects (control group) were examined. Applanation tonometry and pulse wave contour analysis at the carotid-femoral segment were made by SphygmoCor (AtCor Medical).

RESULTS

Aortic systolic blood pressure in patients with the combination of hypertension and COPD was higher compared to the group of the patients with isolated hypertension by 9.83% (p=0.02), and the patients with COPD by 41.5% (p = 0.000042), respectively. Central pulse pressure in the first group was higher compared to the second group by 29.58% (p=0.00022), in the third group - by 53.4% (p=0.0029). The combination of hypertension and COPD (β=0.42, p=0.00019), age (β=0.39, p=0.0002) and the level of aortic pulse pressure (β=0.54, p=0.001) were marked as independent factors of PWV increasing according to the multiple regression analysis.

CONCLUSION

In patients with a combination of hypertension and COPD the increase in PWV, systolic and pulse pressure in the ascending aorta was observed, compared to patients with isolated hypertension, isolated COPD and the control group during applanation tonometry.