Key result
Ambulatory aPWV linked to narrower retinal arterioles independently of static arterial stiffness.
Why the study?
Does ambulatory aortic pulse wave velocity associate with retinal vessel calibers independently of static arterial stiffness in hypertensive individuals?
Cross-Sectional (n=181)
Does ambulatory aortic pulse wave velocity associate with retinal vessel calibers independently of static arterial stiffness in hypertensive individuals?
p-value: p=0.012
Ambulatory aortic pulse wave velocity provides independent and additive information to static carotid-femoral PWV regarding the association of arterial stiffness with retinal arteriolar narrowing in hypertensive patients.
Supports ambulatory aortic PWV as additive microvascular marker in hypertension; leaves open prospective validation before clinical use.
BACKGROUND: Arterial stiffness measured under static conditions reclassifies significantly cardiovascular (CV) risk and associates with narrower retinal arterioles. However, arterial stiffness exhibits circadian variation, thus single static stiffness recordings do not correspond to the "usual" 24 hr, awake, and asleep average arterial stiffness. We aimed to test the hypothesis that ambulatory 24 hr, awake, and asleep aortic (a) pulse wave velocity (PWV) associate with retinal vessel calibers, independently of confounders and of static arterial stiffness, in hypertensive individuals free from diabetes and CV disease. METHODS: Digital retinal images were obtained (181 individuals, age: 53.9±10.7 years, 55.2% men) and retinal vessel calibers were measured with validated software to determine central retinal arteriolar and venular equivalents (CRAE and CRVE, respectively); ambulatory (24 hr, awake, asleep) and static office aPWV were estimated by Mobil-O-Graph; and static office carotid to femoral (cf) PWV by SphygmoCor. RESULTS: Regression analysis performed in 320 gradable retinal images showed that, after adjustment for confounders: (i) ambulatory aPWV was significantly associated with narrower retinal arterioles but not with venules; (ii) asleep aPWV had stronger associations with CRAE than awake aPWV; (iii) both ambulatory aPWV and cfPWV were associated mutually independently with narrower retinal arterioles; aPWV introduction in the model of cfPWV, improved model's R2 (P = 0.012). Similar discriminatory ability of 24 hr aPWV and of cfPWV to detect the presence of retinal arteriolar narrowing was found. CONCLUSION: Ambulatory aPWV, estimated by an operator-independent method, provides additional information to cfPWV regarding the associations of arterial stiffness with the retinal vessel calibers.
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Aissopou et al. (2015) conducted a cross-sectional in Hypertension (n=181). Ambulatory aortic pulse wave velocity (aPWV) vs. Static office carotid to femoral pulse wave velocity (cfPWV) was evaluated on Central retinal arteriolar and venular equivalents (CRAE and CRVE) (p=0.012). Ambulatory aortic pulse wave velocity was significantly associated with narrower retinal arterioles independently of static arterial stiffness, improving the model's R2 (P=0.012).
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