Could arterial stiffness be early reversible target organ damage test in childhood hypertension?

Objective: The recommended treatment for hypertension (HTN) in children has been revised recently. This study aimed to present the changes in target organ damage (TOD) and arterial stiffness parameters after treatment in children with primary HTN who were managed in accordance with the 2016 European Society of Hypertension Guidelines. Methods: Patients with primary HTN included in this study were newly diagnosed, untreated, and were followed-up for a minimum of 6 months. HTN was confirmed by 24-h ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM). All patients underwent the following assessments: anthropometrical measurements of body mass index (BMI), carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT), left ventricular mass index (LVMI), plasma creatinine, urea, electrolytes, uric acid, fasting plasma glucose, blood lipids, urinalysis, urine culture, and first morning urine albumin tocreatinine ratio. The ABPM device performed measurements such as central blood pressure (cBP) and pulse wave velocity (PWV). Results: Thirty-two of 104 patients were enrolled. Seventeen patients were male, and 53% were obese. Compared with pretreatment, creatinine, urea, systolic BP (SBP), diastolic BP (DBP), systolic load, diastolic load, central SBP (cSBP), cSBP z score, cDBP, and PWV z score decreased, whereas LVMI and BMI z scores were unchanged. Conclusion: After BP improvement, while LVMI did not regress, the cSBP, cSBP z, and PWV z score values, which are markers of arterial stiffness, regressed. This supports the corrective effect of BP control on the cardiovascular system even in a short-term follow-up. Further longitudinal studies are needed for the assessment of BP control on arterial stiffness in childhood.