Characterization of participants with a disproportionate degree of hypertension-mediated organ damage: the Maastricht study

BACKGROUND: Although there is a well established link between blood pressure (BP) levels and the severity of hypertension-mediated organ damage (HMOD), some patients with hypertension exhibit a disproportionate degree of HMOD relative to their BP. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to define disproportionate degrees, relative to blood pressure, of left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) measured by Sokolow-Lyon (SL) index and of arterial stiffness measured by carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (PWV), and to assess the sex differences and characteristics of individuals with such disproportional SL index and PWV. METHODS: SL index was analysed in 6487 participants of The Maastricht Study [50.9% men; 23.7% type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM)]. PWV was analysed in 6239 participants (51.3% men; 23.5% T2DM). The residuals of linear regression models for the relationship between SL index or PWV and 24 h mean arterial pressure (MAP) was used to define participants with disproportional SL index and PWV, respectively. Individuals with higher-than-expected (>90th percentile of the residuals) and lower-than-expected (