Pulse pressure in patients with arterial hypertension in Slovenia

Namen: Namen naše študije je bil določiti porazdelitev pulznega tlaka (PP), sistoličnega (SBP) in diastoličnega (DBP) krvnega tlaka v odvisnosti od spola in starosti ter ugotoviti odnos med PP, SBP in DBP. Analizirali smo podatke za 19972 bolnikov z arterijsko hipertenzijo v Sloveniji. Metode: Podatke o meritvah arterijskega krvnega tlaka (SBP, DBP) na nadlahti smo pridobili pri več kot 360 družinskih zdravnikih iz zdravstvenih kartotek bolnikov. Večino podatkov smo zbrali v obdobju 2002-2006. Rezultati: Povprečen PP je bil (71,2 +- 16,9) mmHg, povprečen SBP (172,8 +- 18,1) mmHg in povprečen DBP (101,6 +- 10,4) mmHg. Analiza z linearno regresijo je pokazala statistično značilno povezavo PP tako s starostjo (p < 0,001) kot tudi s spolom (p < 0,001). Pulzni tlak je naraščal s starostjo, pri moških in ženskah podobno. Ženske so imele statistično značilno višji PP (p < 0,001) kot moški v starostnem obdobju 35-65 let, razlika pa je bila manj izrazita po 80. letu starosti. Pulzni tlak je v črki U podobnem odnosu z DBP ter v skoraj linearnem odnosu s SBP. Zaključek: Rezultati naše študije kažejo, da je PP pri slovenskih bolnikih z arterijsko hipertenzijo odvisen tako od spola kot od starosti bolnika, na osnovi česar želimo spomniti na pomen upoštevanja PP pri načrtovanju antihipertenzivnega zdravljenja.Purpose: The aim of our study was to evaluate age- and gender-dependent pulse pressure (PP), systolic blood pressure (SBP), and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) distributions as well as their interconnected relationships in a large patient sample diagnosed with arterial hypertension in Slovenia. Methods: Data on brachial arterial pressure measurements (SBP, DBP) were taken from the medical records of 19,972 arterial hypertension patients. More than 360 family medicine physicians participated in the study. The majority of the data was collected from 2002 to 2006. Results: Mean PP, SBP and DBP were (71.2 Ž 16.9) mmHg, (172.8 +- 18.1) mmHg and (101.6 +- 10.4) mmHg, respectively. Linear regression analysis showed a significant association of PP with age (p < 0.001) and with gender (p < 0.001). Pulse pressure increased similarly with age for men and women. Women had significantly higher PP than men during ages of 35 to 65 years (p < 0.001), but the difference was less evident for those above 80 years. Pulse pressure had a U-shape-like relationship with DBP, and astrong, almost linear relationship with SBP. Conclusion: The results of our study show age- and gender- dependent differences in PP distribution for Slovene patients with arterial hypertension. These findings may remind family medicine physicians to take PP values into consideration when planning antihypertensive therapy