ATCOR: US RACE STUDY BACKS CENTRAL BP MEASUREMENT
December 7th 2008 22:49
Thursday December 4, 2008
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ATCOR
Atcor says a study of European and African-descent Americans in the American Journal of Physiology further underlines the usefulness of central blood pressure measurement.
The University of Illinois study compared vascular function in groups of healthy young African American and Caucasian men.
Entitled ‘Racial differences in central blood pressure and vascular function in young men’ the study by Dr Kevin Heffernan et al, found that while both groups of men had similar brachial (upper arm) pulse pressures, the young African-American men had higher central pulse pressures.
An abstract is at Really Long Link
Atcor said elevated central pulse pressure, which cannot be detected with traditional cuff blood pressure measurement, was associated with increased risk of heart attack, stroke and kidney disease.
Atcor said its Sphygmocor technology was used to non-invasively measure central blood pressures during the study.
The company told Biotech Daily that the study raised health concerns that were further investigation.
Atcor said the University of Illinois study highlighted the limitations of using standard cuff blood pressure measurement alone in diagnosing and treating hypertension.
“Our results support the notion that brachial blood pressure does not reflect vascular burden, particularly in young healthy African-American men and alterations in central pressure may precede alterations in brachial pressure,” the study’s authors said.
The adverse implications of elevated central pulse pressure have been observed in a number of other studies.
Atcor said the Strong Heart Study, funded by the National Institutes of Health and involving more than 3,500 patients, showed in a multivariate analysis that central pressure using Sphygmocor, but not brachial pressure, was found to predict cardiovascular events.
A follow-on analysis of the Strong Heart Study data presented at the 2008 American Heart Association Annual Scientific Meeting determined a specific level of central pulse pressure above which adverse cardiovascular events increased significantly, the company said.
Atcor chief executive officer Duncan Ross said it was “well-recognized” that African-American men had a higher prevalence of hypertension.
“Detecting elevated central pulse pressure early - allowing timely intervention - may help prevent chronic cardiovascular disease in later life,” Mr Ross said.
“As the study authors observed, the measurement of central blood pressure may fill a crucial void in the current management of hypertension,” Mr Ross said.
“Yet again, the science shows that it is critically important to measure central blood pressure,” Mr Ross said.
The abstract said the study tested the hypothesis that vascular dysfunction in young African-American men would contribute to greater central blood pressure when compared to young white men.
It concluded that “young African American men have greater central blood pressure despite comparable brachial blood pressure when compared with young white men”.
“Diffuse macrovascular and microvascular dysfunction manifesting as carotid hypertrophy, increased stiffness of central elastic arteries, heightened resistance artery constriction and/or blunted resistance artery dilation and greater arterial wave reflection is present at a young age in apparently healthy African-American men and conventional brachial [blood pressure] measurement does not reflect this vascular burden,” the abstract reported.
Atcor was untraded at 13 cents.
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