Abstract-Aortic pulse wave velocity (PWV), generally considered an intrinsic marker of arterial stiffness, might depend in part on the velocity of myocardial fiber shortening, but the relation between PWV and myocardial function in humans has been understudied. A total of 237 untreated hypertensive subjects over a wide age range (18 to 88 years) underwent aortic PWV determination and echocardiography, from which the mean velocity of circumferential fiber shortening was calculated as a measure of the velocity of myocardial shortening, and relative wall thickness was taken as a measure of left ventricular concentric remodeling. Patients were divided in 3 age groups (Ͻ40 years, 40 to 59 years, and Ն60 years).In the young, aortic PWV was directly associated with heart rate-corrected velocity of circumferential fiber shortening (rϭ0. arge-artery stiffness is increasingly recognized as an early marker of future cardiovascular disease and mortality in different clinical settings, including essential hypertension, the general population, and chronic kidney disease. [1][2][3][4][5] The availability of applanation tonometry-based techniques for measuring pulse wave velocity (PWV) provided a simple, accurate, noninvasive means for the determination of large-artery stiffness. Aortic PWV is considered an intrinsic measure of arterial stiffness on the basis of the Moens-Korteweg equation 6 and, as a measure of aortic impedance and an integrated marker of the pulsatile component of left ventricular (LV) afterload, has been linked to a prognostically adverse cardiac phenotype, including concentric remodeling and depressed LV systolic function. 7,8 On the other hand, the pulse wave is generated by the contracting heart, and it has been hypothesized that aortic PWV might be determined in part by enhanced myocardial performance, at least in young subjects. Indeed, aortic PWV has been associated with a shortened LV ejection time in young healthy men. 9 Because the initial speed of the pressure wave is mainly determined by the velocity of myocardial shortening, 10 and LV ejection time is correlated with shortening velocity, 11 these data can be taken as an indirect suggestion that myocardial function might influence the characteristics of the pulse pressure wave in humans.However, the relation between aortic PWV and a direct measure of ventricular systolic performance has not been defined clearly. We explored the link between aortic PWV and LV geometry and function, as well as the influence of age on this relationship, in a large, untreated series of uncomplicated subjects with essential hypertension.
MethodsIn our study, we recruited 237 subjects with essential hypertension who had been consecutively referred to our hypertension outpatient clinic by their general practitioners for baseline, off-treatment