CAROTID-FEMORAL PULSE WAVE VELOCITY AND STIFFNESS INDEX MEASURED 10-18 YEARS EARLIER WERE SIGNIFICANTLY HIGHER IN DECEASED THAN IN STILL LIVING TREATED FINNISH HYPERTENSIVE PATIENT

Objective: To clarify if a difference is seen in the years 2006-2014 measured pulse wave velocity (PWV) (n=251) between during the years 2015-2024 deceased (n=50) and at the end of the year 2024 still living (n=211) Finnish drug-treated hypertensive patients. Design and method: A Doppler ultrasonography device (Micro Medical PulseTrace PWV and PCA, Micro Medical Ltd, Rochester, Kent, UK) was used to measure carotid-femoral (C-F) and carotid-radial (C-R) PWV and photoplethysmographic transducer of the same machine to measure stiffness index (SI) and resistance index (RI) in 251 Finnish drug-treated hypertensive patients (126 females and 125 males) during the years 2006-2014. At the time of PWV measurement the mean age of the patients was 64.0 (8.3) years (62.6 (7.8) years among still living and 69.0 (7.8) among deceased). Results: The age at death of the deceased patients was 80.0 (SD 7.8, range 62-91) years (n=50) and the age of 2024 living patients 76.9 (SD 7.5, range 56-93 years (n=201), p=0.016. The mean C-F PWV was 12.5 (3.8) in deceased and 10.3 (3.2) m/s (p=0.00007) in living and SI respectively 10.8 (3.5) and 9.6 (2.9) m/s (p=0.013). No significant difference was noticed between the groups in RI. The mean C-R PWV was 11.9 (3.05) in deceased and 9.9 (11.2) m/s (p=0.06) in living. Mean office systolic blood pressure at the time of measurement was 150.0 (19.1) mmHg in deceased and 137.0 (13.9) in living (p=0.0007) and respectively mean office diastolic pressure 86.0 (9.7) and 83.2 (9.2) mmHg (p=0.03). The three most common causes of death were malignancy (n=13), sudden death (n=10) and high age (n=7). Dementia was noticed before death in 14 patients. Conclusions: Carotid-femoral PWV and stiffness index measured 10-18 years earlier were significantly higher in deceased than in still living treated Finnish hypertensive patients Deceased patients were older and their systolic blood pressure was higher which may, at least partly, explain the difference. Malignancies were a common cause of death as also diagnosed dementia in these hypertensive patients. More studies are still needed concerning the predictive value of PWV in hypertensive patients.