Correlation of ambulatory blood pressure monitoring parameters and inflammatory biomarker levels with left ventricular hypotrophy in elderly hypertensive patients
Objective To investigate the correlation of left ventricular hypothrophy (LVH) with parameters of ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) and the levels of established inflammatory biomarkers in the elderly with hypertension. Methods Totally 152 elderly patients with newly-diagnosed hypertension who were screened from the consecutive patients in Out-patient Department of Chinese PLA General Hospital from January 2012 to December 2013 were enrolled in this study. There were 43 patients combined with LVH and 109 without. ABPM was performed in all subjects. Blood levels of high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) and homocysteine (Hcy) were measured. The correlation of the parameters and the levels with LVH was analyzed. Results In the ABPM parameters, the 24 hours mean systolic blood pressure (24hSBP), nighttime mean systolic blood pressure (nSBP) and nighttime mean pulse pressure (nPP) were significantly higher in the patients with LVH than in those without (P＜0.05, P＜0.01). The serum level of hs-CRP was also obviously higher in those with LVH (P＜0.05), but no such difference was found in the level of Hcy between the 2 groups (P＞0.05). Logistic regression analysis showed that nSBP and hs-CRP level were correlated with LVH in the hypertensive patients. Conclusion Elevated nSBP and higher hs-CRP level increase the risk of LVH in the elderly hypertensive patients.