Relationship between brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity and early mild diastolic heart failure in elderly hypertensive Chinese patients

Objectives: To investigate the relationship between brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV) and early mild diastolic heart failure (DHF) in elderly patients with hypertension. Material and Methods: 32 healthy individuals (control group), 44 hypertensive patients without diastolic heart failure (HT group), and 40 hypertensive with diastolic heart failure (HT-DHF group) were retrospectively compared. Risk factors for DHF and baPWV's predictive value were assessed. Results: There were no statistical differences in age, smoking history, left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), left ventricular end diastolic diameter (LVDd), left ventricular end systolic diameter (LVSd) in the three groups. Significantly more females, subjects with hyperlipidemia, diabetes patients were found in the HT-DHF group compared with HT individuals. In the HT-DHF group, baPWV was correlated with pulse pressure, brain natriuretic peptide, LVMI, E/A ratio, DT, E/E' velocity ratio, with baPWV showing the largest odd ratio (OR) of 2.709. The area under ROC curve was 85.6% for a baPWV value >= 1504 cm/s. Finally, the sensitivity and specificity of diagnosing early mild DHF were 75 and 73%, respectively. Conclusions: Arterial stiffness is an independent risk factor for early mild DHF in elderly patients with hypertension. The baPWV may be a prospective means to diagnose early mild DHF in elderly hypertensive Chinese individuals.