Echocardiography assessment of aortic elasticity as a vascular marker in hypertensive vs. healthy individuals

Hypertension contributes to arterial stiffness and may promote early atherosclerosis. Assessing aortic elasticity non-invasively could help identify early vascular changes before clinical atherosclerotic disease manifests. This study aimed to compare aortic elasticity parameters between hypertensive and healthy individuals using echocardiography to evaluate their association with hypertension and potential value in early vascular risk assessment. In this case-control study, 140 participants aged 30–60 were divided into two equal groups: newly diagnosed hypertensive patients and had no significant difference (P value > 0.05) in age- and sex with healthy controls. Transthoracic echocardiography was used to assess aortic elasticity indices, including aortic strain (relative change in diameter), distensibility (diameter change per pressure change), stiffness index (pressure-diameter relationship), and Peterson's elastic modulus (a measure of arterial wall resistance to deformation). Logistic regression and ROC analysis were performed to assess diagnostic value. Hypertensive patients showed significantly lower strain and distensibility and higher stiffness index and elastic modulus compared to controls (p < 0.001). These parameters demonstrated high diagnostic performance, with area under the curve (AUC) values of 0.97–0.99 for identifying hypertensive individuals, suggesting their potential utility in detecting early vascular stiffening. Echocardiographic measures of aortic elasticity differ significantly between hypertensive and healthy individuals. These indices may serve as useful, non-invasive markers for early vascular changes associated with hypertension. However, as this was an observational study, further longitudinal research is warranted to confirm their predictive value for atherosclerosis. The correlation between increased stiffness and inflammatory markers such as CRP suggests that further research is warranted to explore additional inflammatory indices.