Effect Of Atorvastatin On Arterial Stiffness In Patients With Essential Hypertension And Normal Serum Lipid Level

Objective:The primary end point of this study was to investigate the change of arterial stiffness as estimated by cardio-ankle vascular index(CAVI) and carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity(C-F PWV), which is performed in patients with essential hypertension,however, without dyslipidemia.The secondary end point was to assess the effect of atorvastatin on arterial stiffness and blood pressure in those patients.Methods:Between July 2008 and April 2009,A cohort of 75 consecutive essential hypertensive patients with normal serum lipid level was selected.29 cases of them were newly diagnosed and untreated,before treatment,which CAVI and C-F PWV were measured and compared with 32 cases of healthy volunteers without hypertension. Then,All patients with essential hypertension was offered routine antihypertensive therapy.After blood pressure controlled (SBP＜140mmHg,DBP＜90mmHg),they were randomly assigned to control group and atorvastatin group.The former group consisting of 36 recruited patients was merely offered routine remedy,whereas the latter group comprising 39 registered cases was administered atorvastatin in addition to routine medication.SBP,DBP,PP,CAVI and C-F PWV were measured by using desktop Sphygmomanometer and vascular function testing device(VaSera VS-1000,Fukuda Japan) before and three months after treatment.Results:In comparison to healthy group,CF - PWV and CAVI were significantly higher in Patients with essential hypertension and normal serum lipid level(8.67±1.49 vs 7.52±1.15,P＜0.01; 10.79±1.21m/s vs 9.13±1.78m/s,P＜0.01).There were no significant differences in clinical characteristics between control group and atorvastatin group.By the end of three months therapy,CAVI,C-F PWV in atorvastatin group were significantly lower than those in control group(8.03±0.93 vs 8.54±1.08,P＜0.05;9.81±1.12m/s vs 10.43±1.21m/s,P＜0.05) and in baseline(8.03±0.93 vs 8.57±1.06, P＜0.05;9.81±1.12m/s vs 10.69±1.28m/s,P＜0.01).Meanwhile, compared with baseline and control group,SBP and PP were decreased in atorvastatin group.Nevertheless,there was no significant difference observed in control group(P＞0.05).Conclusion:Compared with non-hypertensive population,the patients with essential hypertension and normal serum lipid level have significant increase in arterial stiffness.This change can be reliably reflected by CAVI and C-F PWV.Atorvastatin can exert beneficial effect on arterial stiffness and blood pressure in those patients.