Journal of human hypertension
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study Comparative Study Clinical Trial
Are left ventricular mass, geometry and function related to vascular changes and/or insulin resistance in long-standing hypertension? ICARUS: a LIFE substudy.
Vascular hypertrophy and insulin resistance have been associated with abnormal left ventricular (LV) geometry in population studies. We wanted to investigate the influence of vascular hypertrophy and insulin resistance on LV hypertrophy and its function in patients with hypertension. In 89 patients with essential hypertension and electrocardiographic LV hypertrophy, we measured blood pressure; insulin sensitivity by hyperinsulinaemic euglucaemic clamp; minimal forearm vascular resistance (MFVR) by plethysmography; intima-media cross-sectional area of the common carotid arteries (IMA) by ultrasound; and LV mass, relative wall thickness (RWT), systolic function and diastolic filling by echocardiography after two weeks of placebo treatment. ⋯ However, high thickness of the common carotid arteries was associated with LV hypertrophy and high deceleration time of early diastolic transmitral flow. High MFVR was associated with low ratio between early and atrial LV filling peak flow velocity. This may suggest that systemic vascular hypertrophy contributes to abnormal diastolic LV relaxation in patients with hypertension and electrocardiographic LV hypertrophy.