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Pulse pressure, arterial compliance and cardiovascular morbidity and mortality
1Cardiovascular Engineering, Inc., Dover, MA 02030, USA. GaryFMitchell@Mindspring.com
Insights
Pulse pressure, a measure of conduit vessel stiffness, predicts cardiovascular events. Stiffening vessels create a harmful cycle, increasing damage and clinical events.
Area of Science:
- Cardiovascular Physiology
- Vascular Biology
Background:
- Pulse pressure reflects conduit vessel stiffness, a key factor in cardiovascular health.
- Normally compliant vessels buffer heart's pulsatile output, protecting organs.
- Vessel stiffening is linked to common conditions and cardiac risk factors.
Purpose of the Study:
- To highlight the significance of pulse pressure as a predictor of cardiovascular events.
- To elucidate the pathophysiological role of conduit vessel stiffness.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of existing literature on pulse pressure and cardiovascular outcomes.
- Review of physiological mechanisms underlying vessel compliance and stiffness.
Main Results:
- Pulse pressure is an emerging, important predictor of adverse cardiovascular events.
- Conduit vessel stiffness contributes to a cycle of progressive damage.
- Increasing pulsatile load due to stiff vessels leads to end-organ damage.
Conclusions:
- Conduit vessel stiffness plays a central role in cardiovascular pathophysiology.
- Understanding vessel stiffness has implications for hypertension and cardiovascular disorder classification and treatment.
- Targeting vessel stiffness may offer new therapeutic strategies.
Abstract:
Pulse pressure, an indicator of conduit vessel stiffness, has recently emerged as an important predictor of adverse cardiovascular events. The normally compliant conduit vessels provide an essential buffering role that minimizes potentially harmful pressure swings associated with intermittent pumping by the heart. A number of common conditions and acknowledged cardiac risk factors stiffen the conduit vessels, resulting in a vicious cycle of progressive vessel stiffening, increasing pulsatile load, pressure-related end-organ damage and clinical events. An emerging awareness of the central role of conduit vessel stiffness in cardiovascular pathophysiology has important implications for the classification and treatment of hypertension and other disorders that affect conduit vessel function and pulsatile hemodynamics.