Caroid femoral pulse wave velocity and Central Blood Pressure in Normotensive and Hypertensive participants at the University Teaching Hospital in Lusaka, Zambia

Background and aim: Carotid femoral pulse wave velocity (cfPWV) is considered as the gold standard for directly estimating central arterial stiffness. Furthermore, the simultaneous measurement of central blood pressure (CBP) with cfPWV is augmentative. This is because the two are strong and independent predictors of cardiovascular events and mortality including hypertension in any given population. The present study sought to measure cfPWV and CBP in a population of Zambian normotensive (NT) and hypertensive participants (both treated hypertensives (HTC) and untreated hypertensives (HTN)) between 30 – 65 years of age.
Method and results: Carotid femoral PWV and CBP were simultaneously measured in 146 participants. A Complior® Analyse device (Version 1.9 Beta 2013; ALAM-Medical, France) was used by noninvasively accessing superficial pulses over the carotid– femoral segment. Major findings were that cfPWV values in HTN participants (N=23) were significantly higher than in NT (N=64) participants (11.4±4.2 vs 9.1±3.2, p=0.009). As for HTC participants (N=59), their cfPWV values (10.4±5.6) tended to approach those in HTN participants, with no statistical differences between the two. Furthermore, the mean cfPWV found in NT participants was regrettably higher than any found in previous studies. Carotid femoral PWV did not have a significantly age – related increase in all three blood pressure categories (p > 0.100, R2 < 0.08). The same trend of results was observed for CBP values.
Conclusion: These findings show that central arteries (aorta, carotid, etc) of hypertensive participants were stiffer and thus less compliant than those in normotensive participants. This meant a poor BP control in the patients on treatment implying a further substantial risk of developing a major cardiovascular disorder like stroke considering their high cfPWV and central blood pressures.