Ambulatory central BP and arterial stiffness in patients with and without intradialytic hypertension.

Background: Increased arterial stiffness is suggested to be involved in the pathogenesis of intradialytic-hypertension (IDH). Ambulatory pulse-wave-velocity (PWV) is an independent predictor for all-cause-mortality in haemodialysis and its prognostic power is better than office PWV. This is the first study examining ambulatory central blood pressure (BP) and arterial stiffness parameters in patients with and without IDH.

Methods: This study examined 45 patients with IDH (SBP rise ≥10 mmHg from pre- to post-dialysis and post-dialysis SBP ≥150 mmHg) in comparison with 197 patients without IDH. All participants underwent 48-h ABPM with Mobil-O-Graph-NG; parameters of central haemodynamics, wave reflection and PWV were estimated.

Results: Age, dialysis vintage and interdialytic weight gain did not differ between-groups. IDH patients had higher 48-h cSBP (131.7 ± 16.2 vs. 119.2 ± 15.2 mmHg, p < 0.001), 48-h cDBP (86.7 ± 12.7 vs. 79.6 ± 11.5 mmHg, p < 0.001) and 48-h cPP (45.5 ± 10.4 vs. 39.8 ± 10.0 mmHg, p = 0.001) compared to patients without IDH. Similarly, during day- and nighttime periods, cSBP/cDBP and cPP levels were higher in IDH-patients compared to non-IDH. Forty-eight-hour augmentation pressure and index, but not AIx(75) were higher in IDH patients; 48-h PWV (10.0 ± 2.0 vs. 9.2 ± 2.1 m/s, p = 0.017) was significantly higher in patients with IDH. The two study groups displayed different trajectories in central BP and PWV over the course of the recording; IDH patients had steadily high values of the above variables during the 2 days of the interdialytic-interval, whereas non-IDH patients showed a gradual elevation, with significant increases from the 1st to 2nd 24 h.

Conclusions: IDH patients have significantly higher levels of ambulatory central BP and arterial stiffness parameters and a different course over the 48-h period compared with non-IDH patients. Increased arterial stiffness could be a prominent factor associated with the high burden of cardiovascular disease in this population.