Peripheral circulation in hypertensive patients: findings by digital pulse plethysmography.

Sixty one non diabetic, asymptomatic patients with untreated primary hypertension and 122 age and sex matched non diabetic controls have been investigated in the peripheral circulation of the lower limbs by digital pulse plethysmography. The inclination time of the ascending ramp has been chosen as index of arterial wall elasticity. Inclination time was prolonged in the hypertensive group as compared to the control one (123 +/- 29 vs 107 +/- 13 msec; p less than .001). In addition, by using a cut-off point of 120 msec (X +/- 1SD of controls) 23/61 hypertensives and 26/122 controls presented an inclination time above this value (p less than .05 by chi square test). Since no other difference was observed in the main cardiovascular risk factors, we conclude that high blood pressure may produce early structural lesions of the vessel wall.