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(Hypertension. 2009;53:e33.)
© 2009 American Heart Association, Inc.

Letters to the Editor

Determinants of the Ambulatory Arterial Stiffness Index Regression Line

Giuseppe Schillaci; Giacomo Pucci; Massimo R. Mannarino; Matteo Pirro

Unit of Internal Medicine, Angiology, and Arteriosclerosis, University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy

Gianfranco Parati

Department of Clinical Medicine and Prevention, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy, Department of Cardiology, San Luca Hospital, Istituto Auxologico Italiano, Milan, Italy

An extract of the first 250 words of the full text is provided, because this article has no abstract.

To the Editor:

Ambulatory arterial stiffness index (AASI) has been proposed as an index of arterial stiffness that can be obtained from 24-hour blood pressure (BP) monitoring without the need for dedicated equipment and personnel.¹ A recent article by Adiyaman et al² extends our understanding of AASI by demonstrating that the fit of the regression line of diastolic on systolic BP in individual 24-hour BP recordings (expressed by the coefficient of determination, or r²) has an effect on the relation of AASI with its main clinical and demographic correlates. In a large database, the correlation coefficients of AASI with age, height, 24-hour mean arterial pressure, and 24-hour heart rate were stronger in the subjects with higher coefficients of determination. The authors suggest that AASI might be more meaningful in the subjects with a stronger relation between 24-hour diastolic and systolic BPs and suggest a limitation on future sensitivity analyses to the subjects with an r² value of >0.36.

The question of whether the fit of the regression line of diastolic on systolic BP influences the clinical significance of AASI is of considerable clinical relevance.¹ However, in our view, a more basic question should also be addressed: why does the fit of the regression line vary among the different subjects? It has been observed^3–5 that the strength of the relation between diastolic and systolic BPs might depend in a substantial way on the degree of nocturnal diastolic BP reduction. In other words, subjects with a low coefficient of determination also . . . [Full Text of this Article]

This article has been cited by other articles:

				A. Adiyaman, D. Dechering, T. Thien, J. Boggia, Y. Li, J.-G. Wang, T. W. Hansen, E. O'Brien, T. Richart, L. Thijs, et al. Response to Determinants of the Ambulatory Arterial Stiffness Index Regression Line Hypertension, May 1, 2009; 53(5): e34 - e34. [Full Text] [PDF]