LAUSR

Objective: Markers of subclinical target organ damage increase cardiovascular risk prediction beyond traditional risk factors. Arterial stiffness is one of these parameters, and QKD intervall a marker of arterial stiffness. We aimed to precise if arterial stiffness through QKD intervall measurement could predict overall mortality. Design and method: The patients included in this study belong to the Bordeaux cohort of hypertensive started in 1984. It includes patients with essential hypertension and no cardiovascular complications or pathology likely to affect the prognosis. All the patients benefited from an ambulatory measurement of blood pressure coupled with the measurement of QKD interval (Diasys 200RK then Diasys integra and from 2020 Diasys 3 plus, Novacor, France). QKD interval is the time between the QRS wave on the ECG and the detection of the last Korotkoff sound on deflation of the cuff. The stiffer the arteries, the shorter the QKD intervall. The value obtained is expressed as a percentage of a theoretical normal value based on the height predicted value of a population of normal young subjects. In 2021, we made a systematic search of all cause deaths for all the patients in the registry from national institut INSEE. Results: We included 913 patients whose main characteristics are summarized in table 1. The average follow up period for the population was 11.88 ± 7.5 years. Cardiovascular prediction calcultated by the score SCORE, 24 h SBP and QKDh as a continuous or discontinuous variable were significantly and independently linked to the occurrence of cardiovascular complications or all cause deaths in multivariate Cox model. Conclusions: Arterial stiffness evaluated by the ambulatory measurement of QKD interval has an independent prognostic value in the hypertensive and add significant predictive information to the risk SCORE.