Endothelium-dependent vasodilation is impaired in healthy offspring of hypertensive parents

Abstract

Objectives: Impaired endothelium-dependent vasodilation has been demonstrated in asymptomatic normotensive offspring of hypertensive parents in Caucasians and Chinese population. The study was designed to determine whether impaired endothelium-dependent vasodilation is present in Indian normotensive offspring with hypertensive parents.

Methods and results: We conducted this study in non smoker, healthy, young volunteers with a positive (n = 45) or a negative parental history (n = 30) of essential hypertension in a case-control, blinded design. The subjects underwent a thorough clinical and routine laboratory evaluation. A high resolution ultrasound was used to assess endothelium-dependent brachial artery flow-mediated dilation by a single observer blinded to the family histories. The brachial artery diameters at baseline and after occlusion release, flow mediated dilatation %, brachial intima-media thickness/lumen diameter were obtained and compared between the two groups using student's t-test. There was no significant difference between the two groups in age, sex, body mass index, blood pressure and total cholesterol levels. However, there was a statistically significant impairment of flow mediated dilatation amongst subjects with parental history of hypertension compared to controls (6.87 SD 8.14 % vs 11.31 SD 5.17%, p < 0.01). Multiple regression analysis revealed no association of FMD with age, blood pressure, BMI or total cholesterol in those with or without parental hypertension.

Conclusions: Our study demonstrated impaired brachial artery flow mediated dilatation amongst normotensive offspring with parental hypertension compared to controls. This suggests that endothelial dysfunction possibly precedes clinical hypertension and might have a role in the pathogenesis of essential hypertension.