1 Introduction
2 Methods
2.1 Study Population
2.2 Compliance with Ethical Standards
2.3 Cardiovascular Risk Factors
2.4 Blood Pressure Measurement
2.5 Arterial Stiffness
2.6 Statistics
3 Results
3.1 Characteristics of the Total Study Population and Groups of Women and Men
Variable | All (n = 548) | Women (n = 323) | Men (n = 225) | p-value |
---|---|---|---|---|
Age, years | 48 ± 9 | 48 ± 9 | 47 ± 9 | 0.158 |
Weight, kg | 96 ± 15 | 90 ± 15 | 103 ± 14 | < 0.001 |
Height, cm | 173 ± 9 | 167 ± 6 | 180 ± 7 | < 0.001 |
BMI, kg/m2 | 31.9± 4.1 | 32.2 ± 4.4 | 31.6 ± 3.6 | 0.035 |
Obese, n (%) | 344 (63) | 204 (63) | 140 (62) | 0.447 |
Fat mass, % | 38 ± 8 | 43 ± 4 | 29 ± 5 | < 0.001 |
Waist circumference, cm | 108 ± 11 | 106 ± 12 | 111 ± 10 | < 0.001 |
Hip circumference, cm | 115 ± 12 | 118 ± 12 | 112 ± 9 | < 0.001 |
Waist–hip ratio | 0.94 ± 0.08 | 0.90 ± 0.07 | 0.99 ± 0.07 | < 0.001 |
Waist-height ratio | 0.62 ± 0.06 | 0.63 ± 0.07 | 0.61 ± 0.05 | < 0.001 |
Clinic systolic BP, mmHg | 130 ± 16 | 127 ± 17 | 134 ± 14 | < 0.001 |
Clinic diastolic BP, mmHg | 82 ± 9 | 81 ± 9 | 85 ± 10 | < 0.001 |
24-h systolic BP, mmHg | 121 ± 12 | 119 ± 12 | 124 ± 11 | < 0.001 |
24-h diastolic BP, mmHg | 79 ± 8 | 78 ± 7 | 82 ± 7 | < 0.001 |
Central systolic BP, mmHg | 116 ±15 | 115 ± 16 | 118 ± 13 | 0.007 |
Central diastolic BP, mmHg | 80 ± 8 | 79 ± 8 | 82 ± 8 | < 0.001 |
Central pulse pressure, mmHg | 36 ± 10 | 36 ± 11 | 37 ± 9 | 0.225 |
Hypertension, n (%) | 343 (65) | 185 (59) | 158 (73) | < 0.001 |
Use of anti-hypertensive drugs, n (%) | 111 (21) | 63 (20) | 48 (22) | 0.319 |
24-h heart rate, beats/min | 75 ± 8 | 76 ± 8 | 73 ± 8 | < 0.001 |
Heart rate, beats/min | 68 ± 10 | 69 ± 10 | 66 ± 11 | < 0.001 |
Aorta augmentation pressure, mmHg | 10 ± 6.8 | 12 ± 6.4 | 8 ± 6.5 | < 0.001 |
Aorta augmentation index, % | 28 ± 14 | 33 ± 11 | 21 ± 15 | < 0.001 |
Pulse wave velocity, m/s | 7.5 ± 1.7 | 7.3 ± 1.6 | 7.8 ± 1.7 | < 0.001 |
Diabetes mellitus, n (%) | 58 (12) | 34 (12) | 24 (12) | 0.537 |
LDL cholesterol, mmol/l | 3.6 ± 0.9 | 3.6 ± 0.9 | 3.7 ± 1 | 0.317 |
HDL cholesterol, mmol/l | 1.3 ± 0.3 | 1.4 ± 0.3 | 1.1 ± 0.3 | < 0.001 |
eGFR, ml/min/1.73m2 | 96 ± 13 | 96 ± 14 | 97 ± 12 | 0.071 |
Smoking, n (%) | 66 (13) | 36 (12) | 30 (14) | 0.279 |
hs-CRP, µg/mL | 2.01 (0.93, 4.85) | 2.10 (1.05, 5.06) | 1.83 (0.76, 4.66) | 0.289 |
3.2 Factors Associated with Arterial Stiffness in the Total Study Population
Augmentation pressure | Augmentation index | Pulse wave velocity | ||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Univariable | Multivariable | Univariable | Multivariable | Univariable | Multivariable | |||||||
β | p-value | β | p-value | β | p-value | β | p-value | β | p-value | β | p-value | |
Male sex | − 0.304 | < 0.001 | − 0.409 | < 0.001 | − 0.421 | < 0.001 | − 0.480 | < 0.001 | 0.146 | 0.001 | 0.163 | < 0.001 |
Age, years | 0.419 | < 0.001 | 0.377 | < 0.001 | 0.356 | < 0.001 | 0.327 | < 0.001 | 0.428 | < 0.001 | 0.375 | < 0.001 |
BMI, kg/m2 | − 0.030 | 0.480 | − 0.036 | 0.335 | − 0.090 | 0.034 | − 0.084 | 0.029 | 0.065 | 0.128 | 0.059 | 0.164 |
24-h systolic BP, mmHg | 0.271 | < 0.001 | 0.315 | < 0.001 | 0.074 | 0.086 | 0.145 | < 0.001 | 0.296 | < 0.001 | 0.167 | < 0.001 |
Heart rate, beats/min | − 0.041 | 0.348 | − 0.174 | < 0.001 | − 0.022 | 0.618 | − 0.143 | < 0.001 | 0.215 | < 0.001 | 0.171 | < 0.001 |
Diabetes mellitus | 0.005 | 0.911 | − 0.019 | 0.675 | 0.136 | 0.002 | 0.022 | 0.536 | ||||
Smoking | − 0.048 | 0.276 | − 0.025 | 0.473 | − 0.009 | 0.839 | 0.008 | 0.830 | − 0.126 | 0.004 | − 0.133 | < 0.001 |
hs-CRP, µg/mL | − 0.021 | 0.631 | − 0.025 | 0.569 | − 0.003 | 0.953 |
3.3 Factors Associated with Arterial Stiffness in Women
Augmentation pressure | Augmentation index | Pulse wave velocity | ||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Univariable | Multivariable | Univariable | Multivariable | Univariable | Multivariable | |||||||
β | p-value | β | p-value | β | p-value | β | p-value | β | p-value | β | p-value | |
Women | ||||||||||||
Age, years | 0.464 | < 0.001 | 0.405 | < 0.001 | 0.398 | < 0.001 | 0.353 | < 0.001 | 0.401 | < 0.001 | 0.343 | < 0.001 |
BMI, kg/m2 | − 0.077 | 0.167 | − 0.035 | 0.466 | − 0.189 | < 0.001 | − 0.133 | 0.014 | 0.035 | 0.536 | 0.060 | 0.306 |
24-h systolic BP, mmHg | 0.424 | < 0.001 | 0.369 | < 0.001 | 0.219 | < 0.001 | 0.193 | < 0.001 | 0.315 | < 0.001 | 0.191 | 0.001 |
Heart rate, beats/min | − 0.153 | 0.006 | − 0.226 | < 0.001 | − 0.161 | 0.004 | − 0.211 | < 0.001 | 0.164 | 0.003 | 0.103 | 0.067 |
Diabetes mellitus | 0.045 | 0.436 | 0.020 | 0.728 | 0.081 | 0.167 | − 0.028 | 0.614 | ||||
Smoking | − 0.100 | 0.084 | − 0.052 | 0.263 | − 0.052 | 0.371 | − 0.031 | 0.551 | − 0.131 | 0.023 | − 0.092 | 0.097 |
hs-CRP, µg/mL | − 0.031 | 0.590 | − 0.096 | 0.096 | 0.001 | 0.991 | ||||||
Men | ||||||||||||
Age, years | 0.372 | < 0.001 | 0.383 | < 0.001 | 0.353 | < 0.001 | 0.376 | < 0.001 | 0.492 | < 0.001 | 0.423 | < 0.001 |
BMI, kg/m2 | − 0.019 | 0.772 | − 0.049 | 0.467 | − 0.069 | 0.303 | − 0.064 | 0.356 | 0.149 | 0.026 | 0.038 | 0.542 |
24-h systolic BP, mmHg | 0.282 | < 0.001 | 0.242 | < 0.001 | 0.166 | 0.013 | 0.118 | 0.085 | 0.213 | 0.001 | 0.137 | 0.026 |
Heart rate, beats/min | − 0.025 | 0.710 | − 0.108 | 0.104 | − 0.042 | 0.538 | − 0.106 | 0.123 | 0.343 | < 0.001 | 0.265 | < 0.001 |
Diabetes mellitus | − 0.049 | 0.482 | − 0.065 | 0.354 | 0.212 | 0.002 | 0.080 | 0.187 | ||||
Smoking | 0.037 | 0.592 | 0.011 | 0.865 | 0.062 | 0.372 | 0.044 | 0.498 | − 0.133 | 0.053 | − 0.192 | 0.001 |
hs-CRP, µg/mL | − 0.064 | 0.354 | − 0.027 | 0.693 | 0.017 | 0.804 |
Pulse wave velocity | ||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
β | p-value | β | p-value | β | p-value | β | p-value | β | p-value | β | p-value | |
Women | ||||||||||||
Age, years | 0.343 | < 0.001 | 0.322 | < 0.001 | 0.302 | < 0.001 | 0.325 | < 0.001 | 0.329 | < 0.001 | 0.338 | < 0.001 |
BMI, kg/m2 | 0.060 | 0.306 | ||||||||||
Waist–hip ratio | 0.057 | 0.320 | ||||||||||
Fat mass, % | − 0.072 | 0.214 | ||||||||||
Waist, cm | − 0.005 | 0.925 | ||||||||||
Waist-height ratio | 0.006 | 0.922 | ||||||||||
Obesity | 0.044 | 0.453 | ||||||||||
24-h systolic BP, mmHg | 0.191 | 0.001 | 0.188 | 0.001 | 0.258 | < 0.001 | 0.201 | < 0.001 | 0.206 | < 0.001 | 0.195 | < 0.001 |
Heart rate, beats/min | 0.103 | 0.067 | 0.115 | 0.040 | 0.099 | 0.085 | 0.110 | 0.051 | 0.101 | 0.076 | 0.106 | 0.058 |
Diabetes mellitus | − 0.028 | 0.614 | − 0.018 | 0.753 | − 0.055 | 0.332 | − 0.033 | 0.556 | − 0.031 | 0.586 | − 0.027 | 0.633 |
Smoking | − 0.092 | 0.097 | − 0.089 | 0.081 | − 0.059 | 0.300 | − 0.091 | 0.103 | − 0.087 | 0.121 | − 0.093 | 0.093 |
Men | ||||||||||||
Age, years | 0.423 | < 0.001 | 0.390 | < 0.001 | 0.408 | < 0.001 | 0.415 | < 0.001 | 0.414 | < 0.001 | 0.418 | < 0.001 |
BMI, kg/m2 | 0.038 | 0.542 | ||||||||||
Waist–hip ratio | 0.128 | 0.043 | ||||||||||
Fat mass, % | 0.112 | 0.074 | ||||||||||
Waist, cm | 0.092 | 0.145 | ||||||||||
Waist-height ratio | 0.065 | 0.315 | ||||||||||
Obesity | 0.018 | 0.768 | ||||||||||
24-h systolic BP, mmHg | 0.137 | 0.026 | 0.128 | 0.033 | 0.131 | 0.035 | 0.130 | 0.034 | 0.138 | 0.024 | 0.143 | 0.018 |
Heart rate, beats/min | 0.265 | < 0.001 | 0.250 | < 0.001 | 0.228 | < 0.001 | 0.248 | < 0.001 | 0.253 | < 0.001 | 0.270 | < 0.001 |
Diabetes mellitus | 0.080 | 0.187 | 0.080 | 0.185 | 0.106 | 0.088 | 0.078 | 0.194 | 0.077 | 0.204 | 0.080 | 0.187 |
Smoking | − 0.192 | 0.001 | − 0.189 | 0.001 | − 0.193 | 0.001 | − 0.183 | 0.002 | − 0.182 | 0.002 | − 0.191 | 0.001 |