| Summary: | Background: The Framingham Heart Study group has proposed an algorithm for calculating the 10-year risk of developing cardiovascular disease (CVD) and heart/vascular age. The predictors used are age, diabetes, smoking, systolic blood pressure, total and high density cholesterol. We investigated the association of 10-year CVD risk, heart/vascular age with indices of arterial function, which are not currently included as predictors in the algorithm, in a cohort of newly diagnosed, never-treated hypertensive subjects.
Methods: 1145 patients with a new diagnosis of mild to moderate arterial hypertension for which they had never received treatment were enrolled in the study (mean age 54 years, 670 men). Carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (cfPWV) and augmentation index (AIx) were measured. The general cardiovascular risk profile algorithm proposed by the Framingham Heart Study group was used in order to calculate the 10-year risk of developing CVD. Heart/vascular age was similarly calculated.
Results: cfPWV positively correlated with 10-year general CVD risk (r=0.451, P<0.001) and heart/vascular age (r=0.401, P<0.001). This was also the case for AIx, as it correlated with 10- year general CVD risk (r=0.173, P<0.001) and heart/vascular age (r=0.414, P<0.001).
Conclusion: Aortic stiffness and wave reflections are associated with 10-year general CVD risk and heart/vascular age in never treated hypertensives. This finding underscores the importance of cfPWV and AIx assessment in the setting of newly diagnosed, never treated hypertension, as predictors of future CVD events.
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