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. 2021 Jul 21;19(1):26.
doi: 10.1186/s12947-021-00257-y.

Ultrasonography to detect cardiovascular damage in children with essential hypertension

Wei Liu #  1 , Cui Hou #  1 , Miao Hou  1 , Qiu-Qin Xu  1 , Hui Wang  1 , Pei-Pei Gu  1 , Ling Sun  1 , Hai-Tao Lv  2 , Yue-Yue Ding  3
Affiliations

Ultrasonography to detect cardiovascular damage in children with essential hypertension

Wei Liu et al. Cardiovasc Ultrasound. .

Abstract

Background: Essential hypertension in adults may begin in childhood. The damages to the heart and blood vessels in children with essential hypertension are hidden and difficult to detect. We noninvasively examined changes in cardiovascular structure and function in children with hypertension at early stage using ultrasonography.

Methods: All patients with essential hypertension admitted from March 2020 to May 2021 were classified into simple hypertension (group 1, n = 34) and hypertension co-existing with obesity (group 2, n = 11) isolation. Meanwhile 32 healthy children were detected as control heathly group (group 3). We used pulse-wave Doppler to measure carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (cfPWV), intimal-medial thickness (cIMT) and distensibility of carotid artery (CD). Cardiac structure and function (left atrial diameter [LAD], left ventricular mass [LVM], LVM index [LVMI], relative wall thicknes [RWT], end-diastolic left ventricular internal diameter [LVIDd], diastolic interventricular septum thickness [IVSd], diastolic left ventricular posterior wall thickness [LVPWd], root diameter of aorta [AO], E peak, A peak, E' peak, A' peak, E/E' ratio, and E/A ratio) were measured by echocardiography.

Results: The cfPWV of children in group 1 and group 2 were significantly higher than healthy children in group 3. Significant differences were observed in LVM, LVMI, RWT, LVIDd, IVSd, LVPWd, LAD, A peak, E' peak, A' peak, and E/E' among three groups.

Conclusion: Children and adolescents with essential hypertension demonstrate target organ damages in the heart and blood vessels.

Keywords: Cardiovascular damage; Children; Echocardiography; Hypertension; Noninvasively.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
The Measurement Method of Carotid-femoral PWV. A indicate the time measurement of carotid artery from the R wave of QRS to the foot of the waveform. B indicate the time measurement of femoral artery from the R wave of QRS to the foot of the waveform
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
The Differences of PWV in The Three Groups. Column bar graph shows the differences of PWV among the Healthy group, the Hypertensive group, and the Hypertensive and Obese group. * indicate P value < 0.01
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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