机构:[1]Department of Neurology, Xuanwu Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.神经科系统神经内科首都医科大学宣武医院[2]Department of Radiology, Xuanwu Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.医技科室放射科首都医科大学宣武医院[3]Department of Cardiology, Xuanwu Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.内科系统心脏科(内科专业)首都医科大学宣武医院
Nighttime blood pressure (BP) generally dips by 10% to 20% of the daytime values, and abnormal BP dipping may affect vascular health independently of BP level. The regulation of BP dipping involves arterial baroreflex, whose receptors mainly reside in carotid sinuses and aortic arch. Atherosclerosis in these baroreceptor-resident arteries (BRAs) is frequent among patients with ischemic stroke (IS) and might impair their BP-regulating capacity. We aimed to examine associations between atherosclerosis of BRA and BP dipping in patients with IS. BP dipping ratio was measured by 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure monitoring on the sixth day after IS. With computed tomography angiography, atherosclerosis conditions in 10 segments of carotid sinuses and aortic arch were scored and summed as total atherosclerosis burden of BRA. Among the 245 patients with IS, 78.0% had atherosclerosis in BRA. The total AS burden of BRA was negatively correlated with systolic BP dipping ratio (r=-0.331; P<0.001) and diastolic BP dipping ratio (r=-0.225; P<0.001). After adjusting for age, sex, vascular risk factors, 24-hour BP means, cervical and intracranial atherosclerosis scores, the negative correlations still existed (adjusted β, -0.259 [95% CI, -0.416 to -0.102] and adjusted β, -0.178 [95% CI, -0.346 to -0.010], respectively). In conclusion, higher total atherosclerosis burden of BRA was independently indicative of more blunted dipping of systolic BP and diastolic BP in IS. The total atherosclerosis burden of BRA might be important for predicting and managing BP dipping in patients with IS.