Prognostic Significance of Small-Artery Structure in Hypertension

作者：Damiano Rizzoni, Enzo Porteri, Gianluca E.M. Boari, Carolina De Ciuceis, Intissar Sleiman, María Lorenza Muiesan, Maurizio Castellano, Marco Miclini, Enrico Agabiti‐Rosei · 发表于：Circulation · 年份：2003 · DOI：10.1161/01.cir.0000095031.51492.c5 · 被引用次数：500 · 研究领域：Renal and Vascular Pathologies、Cardiovascular Health and Disease Prevention、Cardiovascular Disease and Adiposity

BACKGROUND: The presence of structural alterations in the microcirculation may be considered an important mechanism of organ damage; however, it is not currently known whether structural alterations of small arteries may predict fatal and nonfatal cardiovascular events. METHODS AND RESULTS: One hundred twenty-eight patients were included in the present study. There were 59 patients with essential hypertension, 17 with pheochromocytoma, 20 with primary aldosteronism, 12 with renovascular hypertension, and 20 normotensive patients with non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. All subjects were submitted to a biopsy of subcutaneous fat. Small resistance arteries were dissected and mounted on an isometric myograph, and the tunica media-to-internal lumen ratio (M/L) was measured. The subjects were reevaluated after an average follow-up time of 5.4 years. Thirty-seven subjects had a documented fatal or nonfatal cardiovascular event (5.32 events/100 patients per year). In the subcutaneous small arteries of subjects with cardiovascular events, a smaller internal diameter and a clearly greater M/L was observed. Our subjects were subdivided according to the presence of an M/L greater or smaller than the mean and median values observed in the whole population (0.098) or mean value +2 SD of our normal subjects (0.11). Life-table analyses showed a significant difference in event-free survival between the subgroups. Cox's proportional hazard model, considering all known cardiovascular risk...