Background: Data are limited with regard to the association of central blood pressure (BP) components with cardiac structure and function.
Methods: Our study was conducted in the framework of cardiovascular health examinations for the current and retired employees of a factory and their family members. We measured central BP by SphygmoCor and cardiac structure and function by echocardiography.
Results: The 826 participants (mean age 43.0 years) included 285 (34.5%) women and 184 (22.3%) hypertensive patients, of whom 78 (42.4%) took antihypertensive drugs. After adjustment for age, sex, body weight, body height, antihypertensive treatment, current smoking and alcohol intake, left atrial volume and left ventricular mass were significantly associated with brachial and central BP components (r = 0.09-0.21, P ≤ 0.01), whereas left ventricular diastolic dysfunction, evaluated by E/A ratio and deceleration time of E wave (DTE), was only significantly associated with brachial and central SBP (r = 0.14-0.18, P < 0.001). However, these correlation coefficients were quantitatively but nonsignificantly different between brachial and central BP (P ≥ 0.06). In regression models with similar adjustments, with 1-SD increase in central SBP (16.7 mmHg), E/A ratio significantly decreased by 5.5 ± 1.2% and DTE significantly increased by 4.66 ± 1.22 ms (P < 0.001). Sensitivity analyses in men and women separately and after exclusion of patients on antihypertensive medication were confirmatory.
Conclusion: Cardiac structure was significantly and comparably associated with central BP components, but left ventricular diastolic dysfunction was only significantly associated with central SBP.