Left ventricular hypertrophy is an independent cardiovascular risk factor. In hypertensives, the pattern of hypertrophy is influenced by central haemodynamic characteristics. Central haemodynamics may also determine physiological differences in left ventricular structure and predispose to particular responses of the left ventricle to pathological increases in load. M-mode echocardiography was u...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Increased aortic stiffness (measured by carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity) and central augmentation index have been shown to independently predict cardiovascular events, including stroke. We studied whether pulse wave velocity and central augmentation index predict functional outcome after ischemic stroke. METHODS In a prospective study, we enrolled 99 patients with a...

BACKGROUND Although it was reported that the augmentation index and inflection time are closely related to reflection in the arterial system and large artery function, it is not known whether these indices of the ascending aortic pressure waveform increase the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD). The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether the aortic reflection of the ascending aortic pr...

Although indexes of wave reflection enhance risk prediction, the extent to which measures of aortic systolic pressure augmentation (augmented pressures [Pa] or augmentation index) underestimate the effects of reflected waves on cardiovascular risk is uncertain. In participants from a community sample (age >16), we compared the relative contribution of reflected (backward wave pressures and the ...

Sir: The possibility to continuously assess changes in blood pressure dictates the need to find proper ways of obtaining clinically relevant information from such signals. In the simplest linear case scenario pressure changes are directly proportional to volume changes. This could give some theoretical soundness to the use of photoplethysmographic signals for similar purposes1. Even when the PP...

Peripheral systolic blood pressure is amplified above central aortic systolic pressure, but the late systolic shoulder of the peripheral pulse may approximate central systolic pressure. Because late systolic pressure also determines the peripheral augmentation index, a measure of pressure wave reflection within the systemic circulation, this implies a direct relationship between amplification a...

Increased wave reflection is an independent factor associated with cardiovascular diseases, risk, and mortality. The influence of the menstrual cycle on wave reflections and particularly on the reproducibility of their measurement has never been examined. The aim of the present study was to examine the reproducibility and variability of wave reflection indices in premenopausal healthy women dur...