Plasma Adrenomedullin Is Independently Associated With Pulse Wave Velocity

Objective: The aim of the study was to investigate the relationship between pulse wave velocity (PWV) and adrenomedullin (ADM) in hypertensive patients. Design and method: We analyzed plasma ADM concentration in 853 patients. Carotid-femoral PWV was performed using the SphygmoCor XCEL device, AtCor Medical. Spearman correlation analysis and multivariable linear regression were performed to evaluate the association between PWV and ADM. Results: The mean age of the study population was 54.5± 13.5 years. Men constituted 45.8% of the group. Participants suffered from: dyslipidemia (76.8%), diabetes (41.3%), coronary artery disease (11.8%), and cerebrovascular disease (6.2%). The mean value of PWV was 10.2 ± 2.3 m/s. The average blood pressure of the 24-hour ambulatory monitoring was 129 ± 13 mm Hg/77 ± 9 mm Hg. A significant, positive link between PWV and ADM was observed (r = 0.09, p = 0.01). Multivariable regression model, adjusted for sex, age, BMI, diabetes, systolic blood pressure, and smoking status, revealed a positive association between PWV and ADM (beta- coefficient: 0.11, 95% confidence interval: 0.026-0.19, p = 0.01). Conclusions: ADM was independently associated with PWV. These results suggest that plasma AMD concentration may serve as an additional marker of advanced arterial stiffness estimated by PWV.