Poster Session IV

P438 Systolic blood pressure amplification. The Czech post-MONICA study P Wohlfahrt, D Palous, M Ingrischova, R Cifkova IKEM, Prague, Czech Republic, VFN, Prague, Czech Republic Topic: Hypertension Background: Central (cSBP) and brachial (bSBP) systolic blood pressures usually differ substantially. Recent studies have shown cSBP to be a better cardiovascular risk predictor than bSBP. On the other hand, brachial blood pressure measurement is more readily accessible in clinical practice. The aim of our study was to identify factors affecting the difference between cSBP and bSBP expressed as systolic blood pressure amplification [(bSBP-cSBP)/bSBP]. Methods: A subgroup of 299 patients aged 47.7 11.2 years (52% of men) from the Czech postMONICA study dealing with a randomly selected representative population sample were examined. After 10 minutes of rest in the recumbent position, peripheral blood pressure measurement and central blood pressure approximation were performed using an Omron HEM 9000 AI. Results: Systolicbloodpressureamplificationcorrelatedwithage(r=-0.47,p<0.001),height(r=0.47, p<0.001), weight (r= 0.22, p<0.001), mean arterial blood pressure (r= -0.23, p<0.001), heart rate (r= 0.127, p<0.05), triglyceride logarithm (r= -0.13, p<0.05), total (r= -0.165, p<0.01) and LDLcholesterol (r= -0.15, p<0.01), arterial hypertension (r= -0.22, p<0.001), and smoking status expressed as cigarette-years (r= -0.28, p<0.05). In multiple stepwise regression analysis, only age, height, heart rate, mean arterial blood pressure, waist-to-hip ratio, triglyceride logarithm, and arterial hypertension remained to be associated significantly with systolic blood pressure amplification. Conclusion: Our results suggest that the difference between central and brachial systolic blood pressure is affected by age and cardiovascular risk factors. This is probably due to large vessel stiffening by atherosclerosis.