Haemodynamic characteristics and blood pressure evolution of hypertension subtypes in young to middle age adults

Abstract Aim The prognostic significance of different hypertension subtypes in young hypertensives, in particular of isolated systolic hypertensives (ISHs) is still debated. The aim of the present study was to investigate clinical and haemodynamic characteristics and blood pressure (BP) evolution of different hypertension subtypes in young stage I hypertensives. Methods We investigated 1206 young subjects from the HARVEST study: 81 normotensives (NTs), 146 ISHs, 281 isolated diastolic hypertensives (IDHs) and 698 systolic-diastolic hypertensives (SDHs) according to office BP values at baseline. Data on baseline haemodynamic and metabolic characteristics, BP and heart rate changes during follow-up (mean 7 years) were collected. ANCOVA analysis was used for all comparisons adjusting for age and sex. Results Males were more frequent among ISHs (90.4%) compared to other categories (70.4, 67.3, 71.5% among NTs, IDHs, SHDs). Moreover, ISHs were younger compared to the others (25.6±6.6 years, p