Pulse Pressure Can Be Used to Predict Cardiovascular Risk in Patients With Type

Pulse Pressure Can Be Used to Predict Cardiovascular Risk in Patients With Type 2 Diabetes

Pulse Pressure is a better predictor of CHD events than systolic blood pressure in persons with type 2 diabetes, but the converse is true for CVD and PVD.

“Pulse pressure (PP), a marker of arterial stiffness, is a better predictor of coronary heart disease (CHD) risk than systolic blood pressure (SBP) or diastolic blood pressure (DBP) in older adults. Whether this is also true in subjects with type 2 diabetes, who are at increased risk for cardiovascular disease, is unknown.”

J.R. Cockcroft and colleagues at the University Wales College of Medicine collected “[d]ata on 2911 type 2 diabetic subjects relating to blood pressure (BP), other risk factors, and cardiovascular events. [Data was] abstracted from The Cardiff Diabetes Database Logistic regression was used to assess the relationship among BP components and the risk of CHD, cerebrovascular (CVD), and peripheral vascular (PVD) events after correction for age, gender, cholesterol, and smoking status.”

They determined, “In the 4-year follow-up period there were 574 CHD, 168 CVD, and 157 PVD events. Both PP and SBP, but not DBP, were positively associated with the risk of all event types. However, PP emerged as the best predictor of CHD events, and SBP as the best predictor of CVD and PVD events. Total and HDL-cholesterol were the most important variables associated with PP after age.”

The researchers concluded, “PP is a better predictor of CHD events than SBP in persons with type 2 diabetes, but the converse is true for CVD and PVD.”

American Journal of Hypertension (Pulse pressure predicts cardiovascular risk in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Am J Hypertens, 2005;18(11):1463-1467).