J Am Heart Assoc

BACKGROUND: Central blood pressure (BP) is a promising marker to identify subjects with higher cardiovascular risk than expected by traditional risk factors. Significant results have been obtained in populations with high cardiovascular risk, but little is known about low-cardiovascular-risk patients, although the differences between central and peripheral BP (amplification) are usually greater in this population. The study aim was to evaluate central BP over 24 hours for cardiovascular event prediction in hypertensive subjects with low cardiovascular risk. METHODS AND RESULTS: Peripheral and central BPs were recorded during clinical visits and over 24 hours in hypertensive patients with low cardiovascular risk (Systematic Coronary Risk Evaluation </=5%). Our primary end point is the occurrence of a cardiovascular event during follow-up. To assess the potential interest in central pulse pressure over 24 hours, we performed Cox proportional hazard models analysis and comparison of area under the curves using the contrast test for peripheral and central BP. A cohort of 703 hypertensive subjects from Bordeaux were included. After the first 24 hours of BP measurement, the subjects were then followed up for an average of 112.5+/-70 months. We recorded 65 cardiovascular events during follow-up. Amplification was found to be significantly associated with cardiovascular events when added to peripheral 24-hour pulse pressure (P=0.0259). The area under the curve of 24-hour central pulse pressure is significantly more important than area under the curve of office BP (P=0.0296), and there is a trend of superiority with the area under the curve of peripheral 24-hour pulse pressure. CONCLUSIONS: Central pulse pressure over 24 hours improves the prediction of cardiovascular events for hypertensive patients with low cardiovascular risk compared to peripheral pulse pressure