The Association of Arterial Properties Derived from Ambulatory Blood Pressure Measurements with Brain MRI Measures

Pulse pressure (PP) – the difference between systolic- and diastolic blood pressure (BP), as determined by 24-hour ambulatory BP monitoring, has been recently demonstrated to be associated with brain MRI measures known to vary with cerebral pathology and aging. PP has been shown to be a sum of 2 components reflecting arterial elasticity (elPP) and its tendency to stiffen during the systole (stPP). We investigated the association of elPP and stPP with the MRI measures: hippocampal volume, severity of White Matter Hyperintensities, and number of brain infarcts, in a community-based sample of 542 individuals (age 59±6). Results showed that elPP and stPP were weakly correlated (r=0.15) and stPP-to-PP ratio was 0.21±0.08. The association of elPP and stPP with brain MRI measures differed for different measures. The association with PP may be mainly explained by its relatively small arterial-stiffening-related component, stPP. In conclusion, PP components may provide a practical tool for associating arterial properties with brain-related pathological changes.