Aortic Distensibility and Extent and Complexity of Coronary Artery Disease in Patients with Stable Hypertensive and Nonhypertensive Coronary Artery Disease

OBJECTIVE: To assess the relationship between aortic distensibility (AD) and the extent and complexity of atherosclerotic lesions assessed with SYNTAX score (SS) in patients with stable coronary artery disease. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Three hundred and seventy-six consecutive patients (230 males and 146 females; mean age: 61.6 ± 9.9 years) with angiographically proven coronary artery disease were included in the study. The SS was calculated using the SS algorithm on the baseline diagnostic angiogram in the 376 patients. AD was calculated from the echocardiographically derived ascending aorta diameters and hemodynamic pressure measurements in all patients. Frequencies of risk factors, biochemical and hematological data were recorded. The patients were divided into two groups according to the median AD value as AD(low) and AD(high) groups. RESULTS: The SS was higher in the AD(low) group compared with the AD(high) group (18.5 ± 10.2 vs. 8.3 ± 5.9, p < 0.001). The AD was independently related to age (β = -0.104, p = 0.019), hypertension (β = -0.202, p < 0.001) and SS (β = -0.457, p < 0.001) and was more strongly associated with SS in hypertensive patients compared to nonhypertensive patients (r = -0.524 vs. r = -0.414, p < 0.001 for all). CONCLUSION: The findings showed that impaired AD might be an independent predictor for the severity of coronary atherosclerosis, particularly in patients with hypertension.