Blood Pressure is the Strongest Component Associated with Arterial Stiffness in Mexican Patients with Metabolic Syndrome

Objective: To establish which of the metabolic syndrome (MetS) components are more related to arterial stiffness. Research Design and Methods: We recruited eighty-two non-smoking male patients, 40 to 77 years old, (42 without MetS and 41 with MetS). The local ethics committee approved the study and signed informed consent forms were obtained from patients. Body mass index (BMI) was calculated as weight (in kilograms) divided by the square of height (in meters), and waist measurements were according to WHO recommendations. Blood pressure and baPWV were measured with the “Vascular Profiler 1000” device (VP-1000) (Omron®, Kyoto, Japan). All blood sample determinations were obtained after a 12-h fasting period and processed within one h. We used an oxidase technique to measure fasting plasma glucose (FPG) and enzymatic methods to obtain total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-c) and triglyceride values. Low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-c) was estimated using the Friedewald formula (LDL-C = Total Cholesterol − HDL-C − Triglycerides/5). Results: We observed strong and significant correlations between SBP and baPWV (r=.753, p=<0.001), and between SBP and PP (r=.853, p=<0.001). The remaining components did not correlate with baPWV or PP.