Second derivative of the finger arterial pressure waveform: An insight into dynamics of the peripheral arterial pressure pulse

Abstract

The study investigated second derivative of the finger arterial pressure waveform (SDFAP) in 120 healthy middle-aged subjects and in 24 subjects with essential hypertension. SDFAP consists of 5 sequential waves 'a'-'e'. Their normalized magnitudes (B/A, C/A, D/A, and E/A) were calculated. In multivariate regression analysis, B/A and C/A correlated only with age. D/A independently correlated with age, heart period, mean blood pressure (MBP), body height, and gender. E/A independently correlated with age and MBP. D/A and E/A were higher (0.42±0.16 vs. 0.33±0.14, p=0.05 and 0.63±0.15 vs. 0.45±0.14, p<0.001), while B/A and C/A were lower (1.04±0.16 vs. 1.20±0.17, p=0.002 and 0.09±0.15 vs. 0.26±0.20, p=0.001) in hypertensives compared to sex- and age-matched controls. After the adjustment for MBP, heart period, and body mass index (ANCOVA), independent discriminative power was preserved only for indices B/A and C/A (p = 0.001 and 0.021, respectively). Therefore, B/A and C/A provide additional information about simple clinical characteristics and might reflect the structural alteration of the arterial wall in hypertensive subjects. © 2005 Institute of Physiology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic.