Oscillometric pulse wave analysis in newly diagnosed never treated Gujarati hypertensives

INTRODUCTION: Hypertension is on a high with preponderance of undiagnosed and untreated at-risk individuals. Pulse wave analysis (PWA) provides noninvasive assessment of arterial stiffness and central hemodynamic parameters. It provides more discrete and direct inference about cardiovascular aging that is expected to be exaggerated with systemic hypertension. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A case–control study was conducted in 116 newly diagnosed, never treated, apparently healthy hypertensives and 116 matched nonhypertensive controls. Oscillometric PWA was accomplished by Mobil-o-Graph (IEM, Germany) to derive cardiovascular parameters that were further analyzed. P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. RESULTS: Cases showed significantly higher brachial arterial parameters (blood pressure [BP], heart rate, and rate pressure product); arterial stiffness (augmentation pressure, augmentation index, pulse wave velocity, total arterial stiffness, and pulse pressure amplification); and central hemodynamics (central BP, cardiac output, and stroke work) than age-, gender-, and height-matched controls. Major study parameters correlated with BP, heart rate, and age, but in multiple regressions, they were independent of most of these parameters. CONCLUSIONS: Oscillometric PWA is feasible in our population. It revealed beyond brachial BP abnormal profile suggestive of early cardiovascular aging in new and never treated hypertensives. It also suggests further work to consolidate and explore these results