RISK FACTORS FOR HIGHER PULSE WAVE VELOCITY IN HEALTHY PEOPLE

Objective: The aim was to determine risk factors for pulse wave velocity (PWV) increase in healthy participants without arterial hypertension (AH) aged 40–70 years. Design and method: In this cross-sectional research from October 2022 to May 2023, we included 105 participants (39 male, 66 female) without AH aged 40–70 years in four family medicine practices. AH was ruled out (systolic blood pressure (BP) <130/80 mmHg or not taking antihypertensives) and dipping status (night BP decrease: >= 10% dipper, <10% non-dipper) was determined with BTL Cardiopoint 24 h ambulatory pressure monitor. Standard laboratory testing was conducted. All participants with chronic diseases who regularly took medication were excluded. Mobil-o-graph device was used for PWV measurement. Descriptive statistics, Student-t test, Spearman’s correlation, and stepwise multivariate regression analysis were performed in Statistica v.12.0. Results: Average age of participants was 54.5±7.7 years, body mass index (BMI) 25.1±3.7 kg/m2 (10.5% overweight), fasting glucose 5.4±0.6 mmol/L (39.0% prediabetic), glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) 90.5±12.9 ml/min/1.73m2, LDL cholesterol 3.7±1.0 mmol/L (86.6% hypercholesterolemic), uric acid 291.9± 70.1 umol/L (20.0% hyperuricemic), heart rate 73.3± 9.0 /min (14.3% tachycardic), systolic BP 117.5 ± 7.6 mmHg, diastolic BP 71.6± 6.6 mmHg, mean arterial pressure (MAP) 86.9±6.4 mmHg, night BP decrease 11.3± 5.6% (30.5% non-dippers), PWV 7.8±1.1m/s (10% above referent values), augmentation index (AIx) 24.8 (± 11.9) mmHg. White coat effect was found in 12.4% of participants and 10.5% were smokers. Non-dippers had significantly higher PWV (8.2±1.1 vs. 7.6±1.1 m/s, p<0.01), and LDL cholesterol (3.5 vs. 4.1 mmol/L, p<0.01) than dippers. PWV increased with a smaller night BP decrease (r=-0.269, p<0.01), eGFR (r=-0.334, p<0.001), and higher age (r=0.930, p<0.001), fasting glucose (r=0.224, p<0.05), and AIx (r=0.264, p<0.01). In multivariate regression analysis, age, MAP, fasting glucose, AIx, and BMI were shown as independent predictors of PWV increase. Conclusions: This research detected higher age, MAP, fasting glucose levels, AIx, and BMI as independent risk factors for PWV increase in healthy people aged 40-70 years. Although non-dippers had higher PWV levels, only a weak negative correlation was found between night BP decrease and PWV levels.