Ambulatory pulse pressure - A potent predictor of total cardiovascular risk in hypertension

A wide pulse pressure (PP) is a marker of increased artery stiffness and high cardiovascular (CV) risk. To investigate the prognostic value of ambulatory PP, which is currently unknown, we studied 2010 initially untreated subjects with uncomplicated essential hypertension (mean age, 51.7 years; 52% men). All subjects underwent baseline procedures including 24-hour noninvasive ambulatory blood pressure (BP) monitoring. The mean duration of follow-up was 3.8 years (range, 0 to 11 years), and CV morbidity and mortality were the outcome measures. There were 200 major CV events (2.61 per 100 person-years), 36 of which were fatal (0.47 per 100 person-years). In the 3 tertiles of the distribution of office PP, the rate of total CV events (per 100 persons per year) was 1.38, 2.12, and 4.34, respectively, and that of fatal events was 0.12, 0.30, and 1.07 (log-rank test, both P<0.01). In the 3 tertiles of the distribution of average 24-hour PP, the rate of total CV events was 1.19, 1.81, and 4.92, and that of fatal events was 0.11, 0.17, and 1.23 (log-rank test, both P<0.01). After controlling for several independent risk markers including white coat hypertension and nondipper status, we found that ambulatory PP was associated with the biggest reduction in the -2 log likelihood statistics for CV morbidity (P<0.05 versus office PP). In each of the 3 tertiles of office PP, CV morbidity and mortality increased from the first to the third tertile of average 24-hour ambulatory PP (log-rank test, all P<0.01). Age, left ventricular hypertrophy, and nondipper status were independent predictors of CV mortality, and the further predictive effect of ambulatory PP (P<0.001) was marginally but not significantly superior to that of office PP and average 24-hour systolic BP. We conclude that ambulatory PP is a potent risk marker in essential hypertension. CV morbidity is more closely predicted by ambulatory than by office PP even after control for multiple risk factors.