Abstract
Objectives
Carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (PWV), an index of arterial stiffness and a proxy
of arterial aging, has been reported to be an independent determinant of cardiovascular
health. Whether the effects of antihypertensive treatment vary in the presence of
accelerated arterial aging (stiffer artery, ie, PWV >10 m/s) has not been established.
We tested this hypothesis in a longitudinal study in a large community-dwelling population.
Design
Longitudinal population study with repeated measures.
Setting and Participants
Study population consisted of a cohort of 6011 volunteers (2546 men and 3465 women,
age range 14-101 years; 15,011 observations over a median follow-up of 6.8 years)
participating in the SardiNIA Study.
Measures
Repeated measures of PWV, blood pressure (BP), and metabolic risk factors and the
antihypertensive medication trajectories of BP and PWV over time were assessed via
mixed effects models.
Results
Antihypertensive treatment significantly affected the trajectory of BP in both participants
with (−0.47 ± 0.20 mmHg/y, P = .02) and participants without stiffer arteries (−0.47 ± 0.07 mmHg/y, P = .001). They also affected the trajectory of PWV in participants with stiffer artery,
independent of the BP values.
Conclusions and Implications
Antihypertensive treatment is effective in reducing both BP and PWV in older individuals
with stiffer arteries.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: December 26, 2019
Footnotes
This research was supported in part by the Intramural Research Program of the US National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Aging (No. HHSN271201600005C).
The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
Identification
Copyright
© 2019 AMDA - The Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine.
