Positive effects of antihypertensive treatment on aortic stiffness in the general population

Aortic stiffness is strongly related to age and mean arterial pressure (MAP). In the present analysis, we investigated whether antihypertensive treatment modulates the association of the aortic pulse wave velocity (PWV) with age and with MAP in the general population. In the Czech post-MONICA cross-sectional study, we measured the PWV in 735 subjects (mean age 61.2±7.8 years, 54.1% women, 44.3% on antihypertensive medication). We used a linear regression model to assess the effect of treatment on the PWV. The independent covariates in our analysis included sex, age, MAP, heart rate, body mass index, plasma glucose, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, smoking and observer. The patients receiving treatment were older (64.1±6.7 vs. 58.9±7.8 years), had higher systolic blood pressure (135.9±16.2 vs. 130.1±16.5 mm Hg) and had higher pulse wave velocity (9.1±2.2 vs. 8.2±2.1 m s(-1); P for all