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Measuring the Carotid to Femoral Pulse Wave Velocity (Cf-PWV) to Evaluate Arterial Stiffness
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Published on: May 3, 2018

Ambulatory arterial stiffness index is increased in hypertensive childhood disease

Giacomo D Simonetti1, Rodo O VON Vigier, Elke Wühl

  • 1Division of Paediatric Nephrology, University of Bern, 3010 Berne, Switzerland.

Pediatric Research
|May 7, 2008
PubMed

Insights

Children with hypertension show increased arterial stiffness, measured by the ambulatory arterial stiffness index (AASI). This index can help identify hypertension in pediatric patients.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Cardiology
  • Vascular Physiology
  • Hypertension Research

Background:

  • Arterial stiffness is linked to hypertension in adults.
  • The ambulatory arterial stiffness index (AASI) quantifies arterial stiffness using ambulatory blood pressure (BP) monitoring.
  • Pediatric hypertension often presents with vascular changes similar to adults.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate if hypertensive children exhibit elevated AASI compared to normotensive children.
  • To assess the correlation of AASI with hypertension duration and etiology in children.
  • To determine the diagnostic accuracy of AASI in identifying pediatric hypertension.

Main Methods:

  • Calculation of AASI from 185 ambulatory BP measurements.
  • Comparison of AASI values between 114 hypertensive and 71 normotensive children.
  • Analysis of AASI in relation to hypertension duration, aortic coarctation history, and BP parameters.

Main Results:

  • Hypertensive children had significantly higher AASI (0.370 ± 0.120) than normotensive children (0.204 ± 0.199).
  • Elevated AASI was observed in children with longer hypertension duration or history of aortic coarctation.
  • AASI cutoff of 0.301 differentiated hypertensive from normotensive children with 81% sensitivity and 65% specificity (OR=8.2).
  • AASI correlated positively with pulse and systolic BP.

Conclusions:

  • The ambulatory arterial stiffness index (AASI) is elevated in hypertensive children.
  • AASI serves as a valuable indicator of arterial stiffness in pediatric hypertension.
  • AASI correlates with hypertension severity and specific underlying conditions in children.

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