The relationship between ambulatory arterial stiffness index and blood pressure variability in hypertensive patients

Ambulatory arterial stiffness index (AASI) is well known as a predictor of cardiovascular mortality in hypertensive patients. Mathematically, AASI reflect the standard deviation (SD) of blood pressure (BP) variation. AASI is measured higher levels in non-dipper than dipper. Thus, AASI has a possibility of not only reflecting arterial stiffness but also BP variability and/or autonomic nervous dysfunction. Consecutive data from 418 untreated hypertensive patients were analyzed retrospectively. We examined the association between the 24-hour ambulatory BP monitoring (ABPM) parameters and AASI. AASI had a simple correlation with age (R=0.189, p