P-66: Pattern and distributon of pulse pressure from young to elderly hypertensives

Pulse pressure is related to vascular compliance and to ageing. In the present study we evaluated the pattern of blood pressure, using a 24-h ambulatory BP recording, in 1929 patients with essential hypertension, divided into twelve groups on the basis of the age: group I, aged from 16 to 20 years (20 M - 15 F); group II, from 21 to 25 (27 M - 21 F); group III, from 26 to 30 (49 M - 35 F), group IV, from 31 to 35 (69 M - 43 F); group V, from 35 to 40 (104 M - 72 F); Group VI, from 41 to 45 (110 M - 102 F); Group VII, from 46 to 50 (151 M-125 F); Group VIII, from 51 to 55 (158 M-161 F); Group IX, from 56 to 60 (115 M-117 F); Group X, from 61 to 65 (86 M-106 F); Group XI, from 66 to 70 (53 M - 98 F); Group XII, from 71 to 75 (31 M - 61 F). All hypertensives, with no evidence of secondary hypertension, were recuited in about ten years and all of them did a 24-hour ambulatory BP monitoring (A&D TM 2420, model 6). In younger pulse pressure was progressively reducing from adolescence to juvenile age (always higher in males compared to females, p<0.0005). With increasing age, pulse pressure reached an early steady state in the middle-aged hypertensives, then was progressively increasing in both genders (p<0.05-0.0005). These findings accounted for a significantly higher pulse pressure values recorded in males and seem to describe an age-related curve with a U-pattern profile in males (higher values in both juvenile and elderly age) and a J-pattern profile in females (with higher values in the elderly).