414 American Journal of Hypertension 35(5) May 2022
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
1
Université de Paris, AP-HP, Hôpital Lariboisière, Département
de Cardiologie, Paris, France;
2
Université de Paris, AP-HP, Hôpital
Lariboisière, Physiologie Clinique—Explorations Fonctionnelles,
Paris, France;
3
Université de Paris, AP-HP, Hôpital Lariboisière, Centre
Universitaire du Diabète et de ses Complications, Paris, France.
© The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press on
behalf of American Journal of Hypertension, Ltd. All rights reserved.
For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com
Correspondence: Jean-Guillaume Dillinger ( jean-guillaume.dillinger@
aphp.fr).
Initially submitted June 23, 2021; date of frst revision October 14,
2021; accepted for publication December 30, 2021; online publication
December 30, 2021.
Te incidence of heart failure (HF) is high among patients
with diabetes (DM), and HF is a major contributor to car-
diovascular (CV) morbidity and mortality in patients with
DM. Tere are many reasons: hypertension is very common,
arterial stifness is usual in diabetic patients, diabetic cardi-
omyopathy has been described, coronary artery disease is
common, autonomic neuropathy could play a role as fuid
overload.
Te prevalence of DM in patients with HF ranges from
approximately 25% to 40%, depending on the population
studied.
1
Te prognosis of patients with HF is worse in those
with DM compared with those without DM.
1,2
Impaired lef
ventricular (LV) systolic function with or without coronary
artery disease and diastolic dysfunction related to LV hyper-
trophy and remodeling can contribute to HF in patients with
DM.
3
Early identifcation of HF is mandatory in patients with DM
to improve prognosis and adapt therapeutics,
4
for example
introducing sodium–glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitors.
Diagnosis of HF is difcult in daily practice because HF
Elevated Brain Natriuretic Peptide and High Brachial Pulse
Pressure in Patients With Diabetes
Jean-Guillaume Dillinger,
1,2
Charlotte Patin,
1
Philippe Bonnin,
2
Tiphaine Vidal-Trecan,
3
Elise Paven,
1
Jean-François Gautier,
3
Jean-Pierre Riveline,
3
Guy Amah,
2
and Patrick Henry
1
BACKGROUND
Heart failure (HF) is frequent in patients with diabetes mellitus (DM),
and early detection improves prognosis. We investigated whether
analysis of brachial blood pressure (BP) in daily practice can identify
patients with DM and high risk for subsequent HF, as defned by brain
natriuretic peptide (BNP) >50 pg/ml.
METHODS
3,367 outpatients with DM without a history of cardiovascular disease
were enrolled in a prospective study.
RESULTS
Age (mean ± SD) was 56 ± 14 years, 57% were male, 78% had type
2 DM, and HbA1C was 7.4 ± 1.4%. A history of hypertension was re-
corded in 43% of patients and uncontrolled BP was observed in 13%.
BNP concentration (mean ± SD) was 21 ± 21 ng/l and 9% of patients
had high risk of incident HF. Brachial pulse pressure (PP) was the best
BP parameter associated with high risk of incident HF compared with
diastolic, systolic, or mean BP (area under the receiver operating char-
acteristic curve: 0.70, 0.65, 0.57, and 0.57, respectively). A multivariate
analysis demonstrated that elevated PP was independently associated
with high risk of incident HF (odds ratio [95% confdence interval, CI]:
2.1 [1.5–2.8] for PP ≥65 mm Hg). Study of central aortic BP and pulse
wave velocity on 117 patients demonstrated that high risk of incident
HF was associated with increased arterial stifness and subendocardial
ischemia. After a mean follow-up of 811 days, elevated PP was asso-
ciated with increased all-cause mortality (hazard ratio [95% CI]: 1.7
[1.1–2.8]).
CONCLUSIONS
Brachial PP is powerful and independent “easy to record” BP param-
eter associated with high risk of incident HF in diabetic patients.
GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT
Keywords: blood pressure; brain natriuretic peptide; diabetes mellitus;
heart failure; hypertension; mean blood pressure; pulse pressure.
https://doi.org/10.1093/ajh/hpab179
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