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Association of Systolic Blood Pressure and Pulse Pressure with Carotid Intima Thickness in Elderly Japanese Patients

Many studies have demonstrated that increased carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) is related to future cardiovascular events and is influenced by cardiovascular risk factors such as sex, hypertension, diabetes, and hypercholesterolemia. Although aging is a well-known risk factor for an increase in carotid IMT, few studies have investigated which factors influence carotid IMT in the very elderly. In the present study, we investigated the relationship of pulse pressure (PP), blood pressure (BP), and its variability (six consecutive visits) with carotid IMT among 240 high-risk elderly in whom risk factors were managed clinically (average age was 79 ± 5 years). In the simple correlation, mean systolic BP (SBP) had a positive correlation with IMT and max IMT (P = .012 and P = .045), as did PP (P = .018 and P = .004), but did not diastolic BP or standard deviation of BP and coefficient of variation of BP. In multiple regression analyses, mean SBP and mean PP were each determinants of both IMT and max IMT, when each parameter was added separately to the regression model. We concluded that high SBP and wide PP still have an influence on increased carotid IMT in the very elderly Japanese patients.