Noninvasive Detection of Vessel Stiffness from Continuous Blood Pressure Recordings in Hypertensive Subjects

This paper presents results of blood pressure dynamicity analysis aimed at vessel stiffness detection and subsequent cardiac risk stratification. We analyzed ECG and BP parameters from 12 normotensive young healthy volunteers, 10 old healthy volunteers, and two groups of hypertensive patients-12 young non-medicated hypertensive subjects with no other known complications and 16 hypertensive non-medicated subjects with confirmed obesity (according to waist circumference), hyperlipidemia or diabetes mellitus. The dynamic parameters obtained from a derivative continuous blood pressure signal provide additional information about vessel compliance. They can differentiate hypertensive subjects according to the level of cardiovascular risk