N. Zakopoulos et al., Isolated clinic hypertension is not an innocent phenomenon - Effect on thecarotid artery structure, AM J HYPERT, 12(3), 1999, pp. 245-250
This study examines the common carotid intimalmedial wall thickness (CCA-IM
T) in untreated patients with elevated clinic blood pressure (BP) but norma
l ambulatory BP (isolated clinic hypertension, n = 22), in comparison with
a group with elevated clinic and ambulatory BP (hypertensives, n = 41) and
a group with normal clinic and ambulatory BP (normotensives, n = 17) readin
gs. The three groups did not differ in age, male/female ratio, lipid profil
e, glucose tolerance test, or smoking habits.
No difference existed in CCA-IMT values between the groups with hypertensio
n (0.67 +/- 0.18 mm) and isolated clinic hypertension (0.68 +/- 0.14 mm), b
ut the values in these two groups were significantly higher tone-way ANOVA;
F = 8.09, P < .001) than in the group of normotensives (0.50 +/- 0.09 mm).
The CCA-IMT did not correlate with clinic systolic or diastolic BP reading
s or with BP derivatives of 24-h ambulatory monitoring. Mean 24-h BP in the
isolated clinic hypertensives did not differ from that in the normotensive
s, whereas both were lower than in the hypertensives.
We conclude that changes in the CCA-IMT occuring in subjects with isolated
clinic hypertension are equal to the changes in sustained hypertension, ind
icating that isolated clinic hypertension may not be a benign condition. (C
) 1999 American Journal of Hypertension, Ltd.