Characteristics of a Sample of Elderly Hypertensive Individuals With Increased Relative Wall Thickness (Rwt) on Echocardiography

Objective: Arterial hypertension (HTN) is a prevalent disease with relevant morbidity and mortality due to the hypertension mediated organ damages (HMOD). Myocardial HMOD is very frequent. We describe the characteristics of a sample of patients with hypertension who underwent echocardiograms, showing a relative parietal thickness >0.42. Design and method: Retrospective review of older patients from the Hypertension clinic of a tertiary hospital during 2019 who underwent an echocardiogram. Anthropometric and analytical variables, vital signs and complementary tests performed on patients with a relative parietal thickness (GPR) value greater than 0.42 were collected. Results: From 50 patients included 36 patients had an increased RWT (17 men and 19 women). Mean age was 67 years (± 11.83) with a mean abdominal circumference of 104 cm (± 12.94). Office Blood pressure (BP) was a mean systolic BP of 140mmHg (± 21.89), a mean diastolic BP of 73.08mmHg (± 13.79). Ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) showed 24-hour systolic BP of 136mmHg (±13.57), 24-hour diastolic BP of 73.03mmHg (12.53), daytime systolic BP (±15.39), daytime diastolic BP 76.1mmHg (±14.4), nocturnal systolic BP 127mmHg (±13.31) and nocturnal diastolic BP 66.79 (±10.24). Regarding personal history, 11% had active smoking and up to 22% had moderate alcoholism; 30% said they were active in physical exercise. As with other antecedents, half of the patients were also diagnosed with dyslipidemia (PLD), 20% with diabetes mellitus (DM) and 16% with obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA). Up to 36% of the total had had previous cardiovascular events, and 77% were already undergoing antihypertensive treatment at the time of the echocardiogram. Mean values of glucose 104.39 g/dL (± 24.11), triglycerides 146.24mg/dL (± 75.19), total cholesterol 188.58mg/dL (± 41.67), LDL cholesterol 117.23mg/dL (± 32.49), HDL cholesterol 50.57mg/dL (± 13.1) were observed. 2 patients presented cardiovascular event at one year in the form of coronary artery disease and arrhythmia, respectively). Mortality at 12 months was 0%. Conclusions: RWT is very frequent in older hypertensives in our sample. Our patients presented BP levels above guidelines recommended goal. A comprehensive approach to search for HMOD is recommended