La vitesse de l'onde de pouls et la pression artérielle centrale devraient-elles être mesurées chez les patients hypertendus?

Abstract

Diagnosis and treatment of arterial hypertension are essential in order to reduce the mortality and the morbidity associated with this condition. The decision to treat hypertension is often based on serial office blood pressure measurements, but new non-invasive measurements such as pulse wave velocity or central blood pressure measurement using pulse wave analysis can be useful to assess the cardiovascular risk with more precision. Indeed, pulse vawe velocity, which is a marker of arterial stiffness, is an independent risk factor for future cardiovascular events. Non-pharmacological and pharmacological therapies can affect both pulse wave velocity and central pressure. However, more studies are needed in order to determine if these measurements can be use as surrogate marker of cardiovascular disease.