Abstract
For many years, the role of mechanical factors in cardiovascular (CV) epidemiology has been based on the description of linear relationships between CV events and the level of systolic and diastolic blood pressure. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure are simply the highest and lowest points of the cyclic blood pressure curve, which questions the validity of simple linear or semilogarithmic models for the statistical evaluations of CV risk. Recently, epidemiologic studies relating mean and pulse pressure to the occurrence of CV events have been proposed and applied to the understanding of pulse pressure, arterial stiffness, and wave reflections in the mechanisms of human hypertensive complications. This article underscores the deficiencies of auscultatory brachial artery pressure and describes the methodology of other newly developed hemodynamic models. It also describes their applications to CV risk prediction and attempts to place them in a clinical context.
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Safar, M.E., Smulyan, H. Measurements of arterial stiffness: Are they ready for clinical use?. Curr Cardio Risk Rep 2, 268–273 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12170-008-0050-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12170-008-0050-z