Assessment of Arterial Stiffness Index in Hypertensive Patients in Relation to Their Treatment Status Attending a Tertiary Care Center in South India

Objectives: To assess the arterial stiffness index (ASI) and pulse wave velocity (PWV) in patients with hypertension and to compare with age matched healthy controls; to assess and compare the ASI and PWV in relation to the treatment status. Methods: The study was observational-cross sectional. Group one included chronic hypertensive patients on regular treatment for more than 2 months; group two included newly diagnosed hypertensive patients and group three had age matched healthy controls with normal blood pressure. The hypertensives subjects with other comormid conditions such as renal disease, diabetes were excluded from the study. The study was approved by the Institute Ethics Committee. The subjects were interviewed and explained the purpose of the study. All subjects gave written informed consent. The noninvasive periscope device was used to measure PWV, ASI and pulse pressure. Results: PWV, ASI and pulse pressure were statistically higher in hypertensive patients when compared to controls. Further, carotid-femoral PWV was correlated with mean arterial pressure in hypertensive subjects and was found to be statistically significant. Conclusion: PWV, ASI and pulse pressure are significantly higher in chronic and newly diagnosed non-diabetic hypertensives as compared to controls irrespective of their treatment status.