Wideband External Pulse Recorded During Cuff Blood Pressure Measurement: A New Technique for Cardiovascular Assessment

Introduction The wideband external pulse (WEP) recorded during blood pressure measurement reveals three components (K1, K2, K3). K1 is recorded with cuff pressure (CP) above systolic (SP). Aim To assess whether the K1 pattern contains information about the functional and structural properties of the cardiovascular system. Methods WEP analysis, echocardiography, carotid artery (CA) ultrasonography and applanation tonometry were conducted on 178 hypertensives. K1R, a feature of K1, was defined to provide a measure between the arterial incident and backward reflective waves. Results K1R was strongly correlated to vascular functional and structural parameters compatible with vascular effects of aging and hypertension. ANOVA analysis (K1R 0) showed that K1R 0 (Nagelkerke R2 = 0.77). Conclusions K1R is related to vascular functional properties, with suggestive evidence that K1R is also related to vascular structural properties and perhaps subsequent cardiovascular risk.