CENTRAL AORTIC PRESSURE AND ARTERIAL STIFFNESS: ROLE IN ASSESSMENT OF BLOOD PRESSURE VARIABILITY AND BARORECEPTOR FUNCTION

DOI

10.1016/j.artres.2013.10.388How to use a DOI?

Abstract

Blood pressure variability (BPV) is due to complex interaction of cardiac and vascular factors and is influenced significantly by baroreceptor control. The cardiovagal baroreflex sensitivity (BRS) has been shown to depend on vascular compliance and this may explain recent epidemiological association between BPV and arterial stiffness. Although baroreceptors are centrally located (in carotid arteries and aortic arch), BPV and BRS are generally assessed using arterial pressure measurement in a peripheral location (brachial artery or finger) However, the pressure pulse is amplified between the aorta and periphery, with amplification depending on heart rate due to the frequency dependency of the brachial transfer function. In addition, the degree of pulse amplification reduces with increased aortic stiffness as occurs with age. Thus, if BRS is determined by systolic BPV and concomitant changes in heart rate, the relationships will not be similar if assessed from a peripheral or central pressure measurement. The spontaneous sequence technique is used for computation of BRS from the slopes of linear relationships of systolic pressure (SBP) and pulse interval (PI) of contiguous cardiac cycles, where SBP and PI change in the same direction. With this method, BRS computed using central pressure has no consistent relationship to BRS computed using peripheral blood pressure measurements, with differences also being dependent on the lag between SBP and PI. With improvements in technology for continuous non-invasive measurements of central aortic pressure, characterisation of BPV and BRS will be enhanced by the inclusion of effects of arterial stiffness on the pressure waveform.

Open Access

This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC license.

TY  - JOUR
AU  - Alberto Avolio
PY  - 2013
DA  - 2013/11/11
TI  - CENTRAL AORTIC PRESSURE AND ARTERIAL STIFFNESS: ROLE IN ASSESSMENT OF BLOOD PRESSURE VARIABILITY AND BARORECEPTOR FUNCTION
JO  - Artery Research
SP  - 110
EP  - 110
VL  - 7
IS  - 3-4
SN  - 1876-4401
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.artres.2013.10.388
DO  - 10.1016/j.artres.2013.10.388
ID  - Avolio2013
ER  -