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Impaired endothelial function in hypertensive patients with target organ damage

Journal of Human Hypertension volume 23, pages 751–757 (2009)Cite this article

Abstract

To evaluate the correlation between endothelial dysfunction and multiple target organ damage (TOD), we measured endothelial function using high-resolution ultrasonography in hypertensive patients with or without TOD. Two hundred and eighty patients with hypertension were divided into four groups as follows: no TOD (Group I, n=61); 1 TOD (Group II, n=113); 2 TOD (Group III, n=59); and ⩾3 TOD (Group IV, n=47). Endothelial function was assessed by endothelium-dependent flow-mediated dilatation (FMD) and -independent vasodilation (after sublingual administration of nitroglycerin) of the brachial artery using high-resolution vascular ultrasound. We also assessed the intima–media thickness (IMT) of the common carotid, carotid to femoral pulse wave velocity (cf-PWV) and left ventricular mass index (LVMI). FMD was inversely associated with the number of affected organs. FMD was lower in the patient groups with ⩾3 TOD (Group IV: 6.85±4.70% vs Group II: 10.00±6.15%, P<0.01), 2 TOD (Group III: 7.37±5.02% vs Group II, P<0.01) and 1 TOD as compared with patients with no TOD (Group I: 11.88±7.11% vs Group II, P<0.05). In univariate correlation analysis, there was a significant relationship between FMD and IMT, serum creatinine, LVMI and cf-PWV. In stepwise multivariate regression analysis, FMD still correlated with waist size (β=−0.283, P<0.01), age (β=−0.231, P<0.05) and IMT (β=−0.197, P=0.05). These findings suggested that reduced FMD was associated with the number of TOD and may be considered an indicator for evaluating TOD.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (30670832 and 30870941), National Key Project for Basic Research (2004CB518603, 2006CB503804 and 2009CB521905), National High-tech R&D Program (2006AA02Z179) and a grant from the Shanghai Science and Technology Committee (08JC1417400, 08DZ2200400, 08410702400).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Hypertension, State key Laboratory of Medical Genomics, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Vascular Biology, Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Institute of Hypertension, Shanghai JiaoTong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China

    J-Z Xu, Y Zhang, S-N Wu, W-Q Niu, D-L Zhu & P-J Gao

  2. Laboratory of Vascular Biology, Institute of Health Science Center, Shanghai Institute for Biological Sciences (SIBS), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Shanghai, China

    D-L Zhu & P-J Gao

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  1. J-Z Xu
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Correspondence to P-J Gao.

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Xu, JZ., Zhang, Y., Wu, SN. et al. Impaired endothelial function in hypertensive patients with target organ damage. J Hum Hypertens 23, 751–757 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/jhh.2009.10

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