ANALYSIS OF INTRACRANIAL COMPLIANCE PARAMETERS IN DIFFERENT STAGES OF HYPERTENSION

Objective: To compare intracranial compliance parameters between the pre-hypertensive, stage 1 and stage 2 hypertensive patient groups not taking antihypertensive medication.Design and method: National, multicenter, cross-sectional study with collection of clinical, sociodemographic data, office blood pressure measurements and non-invasive intracranial pressure wave analysis in six research centers in Brazil. The data was analyzed by calculating means, standard deviation, interquartile range and the Kruskal-Wallis and Wilcoxon tests, with Bonferroni adjustment. Results: 236 individuals, of whom 48% were male (113) and 52% female (123), with 89% under the age of 65 (211). The prevalence of a family history of heart disease was 70% (165). Among the risk factors, 13% had dyslipidemia (29), 7% diabetes mellitus (16), 20% were smokers (47), 57% were sedentary (136) and 38% obese (89). The overall mean values for P2/P1 and TTP (time to peak) were 1.31 and 0.24, respectively. For the subgroups, the mean values were: 1.26 and 0.23 in the pre-hypertensive group (90), 1.32 and 0.24 in stage 1 (113) and 1.44 and 0.27 in stage 2 (33). The analysis revealed a statistical difference for pre-hypertensive and stage 2 hypertensive P2/P1 (p=0.0068). Conclusions: Considering that the established values for intracranial hypertension and altered intracranial compliance are 1.2 and 0.25, respectively, a substantial proportion of participants, especially in the stage 2 hypertensive group, showed values suggestive of altered intracranial compliance. These findings indicate that elevations in intracranial pressure can occur even in the early stages of hypertension and that this increase may be related to high blood pressure. Our results reinforce the need for further studies to explore this association and its impact on cerebrovascular health.