P3.24 SEX-SPECIFIC ASSOCIATIONS BETWEEN CAROTID DISTENSIBILITY AND PRIOR BLOOD PRESSURE CATEGORIES – RESULTS FROM THE SAPALDIA COHORT

Abstract

Objective: Hypertension is a major risk factor of cardiovascular events. To identify potential sex specific differences in the association of prior blood pressure (BP) to arterial stiffness, we studies the relative change of lumen diameter for a given pulse pressure (distensibility) in participants of the SAPALDIA cohort study. Methods: In the first follow up in 2002 brachial systolic and diastolic BP were examined in 6456 participants. They were divided into five BP categories (systolicBP/diastolicBP mmHg): ‘optimal’ <120/<80; ‘normal’ 120–129/80–84; ‘high normal’ 130–139/85–89; ‘grade1 hypertension’ 140–159/90–99 and ‘grade 2+3hypertension’ ≥160/≥100. Participants were assigned to the higher category, if systolic and diastolic BP belonged to different categories. In the second follow up in 2010/2011, carotid lumen diameter of ultrasound images were analysed in 3489 subjects. BP was measured oscillometrically directly after the ultrasound examination. The analytic sample included 2576 participants with complete data. The sex-specific associations of distensibility and prior assessed BP categories were analysed using mixed regression models with fixed effects for sex, BP categories and their interactions, anthropometric parameters, classical risk factors, heart rate with random effects for study centres. Results: Descriptive characteristics are shown in table1. The sex-specific adjusted average distensibility results are shown in figure1. A significant decline in distensibility with increasing BP category was observed compared to optimal BP category. A significant sex-specific difference was found for optimal BP category (p = 0.001). Conclusions: Based on the assessment of carotid stiffness, BP control should be considered as an important therapeutic target both for men and women.