We studied the influence of rosuvastatin added to a standard therapy on central BP and pulse wave velocity (PWV) in patients with uncontrolled hypertension. 60 patients (31 men and 29 women aged 51.19.1) with uncontrolled hypertension were randomized into two groups. Group 1 included 30 patients who received a fixed combination of 10 mg/day lisinopril and 5 mg/day amlodipine (Ekvator^®, Richter Gedeon, Hungary). Group 2 consisted of 30 patients who followed the same regimen of therapy with addition of 20 mg/day of rosuvastatin. The central (aortic) BP, augmentation index (AIx), carotid-femoral and carotid-radial PWV were evaluated before and after a 48-week follow-up period.

Results: The central systolic/diastolic BP decreased in both groups from 153.6±22.1/100.5±13.2 to 121.3±17.6/83.3±10.4 mmHg (p<0.001) in the 1st group and from 157.0±20.3/100.0±10.6 to 119.8±15.8/80.1±9.7 mmHg (p<0.001) in the 2nd one. The extent of central BP decline did not differ. AIx decreased from 30.6±14.0 to 23.5±15.2% (p=0.001) in the 1st group and from 35.2±8.2% to 24.1±13.0% in the 2nd group (p<0.001) with more prominent AIx decrease in the latter (−6.2% and −9.8% respectively, p=0.15). Mean carotid-femoral PWV decreased statistically only in the 2nd group from 9.5±1.7 to 8.7±1.6 m/s (p=0.04). The carotid-radial PWV did not change in both groups.

Conclusion: Addition of rosuvastatin to a fixed lisinopril/amlodipine combination in the treatment of patients with uncontrolled hypertension resulted in the carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity decline, but was beneficial neither for the decrease of aortic systolic and pulse BP nor of augmentation index.