Clinical characteristics, target organ damage and associate risk factors of resistant hypertension determined by ambulatory blood pressure monitoring in patients aged ≥80 years

Objectives: We investigated clinical characteristics, target organ damage, and the associated risk factors of the patients aged ≥80 years with true resistant hypertension (RH) admitted to Chinese PLA general hospital. Methods: Patients aged ≥80 years with hypertension (n=1163) were included in this study. The included participants attended a structured clinical examination and an evaluation of RH was carried out. The prevalence, clinical characteristics and target organ damage of patients with RH were assessed. The associated clinical risk factors were analyzed by using logistic regression. Results: The prevalence of RH diagnosis by ABPM assessment was 21.15% of patients with hypertension. LVIDd,LVMI as well as prevalence of LVH were significantly greater in patients with RH than control group. The common carotid artery intimal media thickness,carotid walls thickness, CCA diameter and RWT were significant greater in the RH group than in controls. A relatively higher level of creatinine, eGFR, and microalbuminuria and retinal changes was found in the RH group than control group. A multivariate analysis showed that patients with a history of diabetes, higher BMI and lipid profiles were independent risk factors of RH. Conclusions: The prevalence of RH in patients aged≥80 years was within the range of reported rates of the general population. Subjects with RH diagnosis showed a higher occurrence of target organ damage than patients with well controlled blood pressure. Patients with diabetes, higher BMI and serum lipid profiles were independent risk factors for RH in patients aged ≥80 years.