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Risk for incident HF increased in patients with orthostatic hypotension
Jones CD. Hypertension. 2012;doi:10.1161/HYPERTENSIONAHA.111.188151.
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About 11% of patients who developed HF had orthostatic hypotension vs. 4% of those without the condition, according to recent study results.
More than 12,000 patients free of prevalent HF at baseline with orthostatic measurements were included in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study. This population-based study enrolled men and women aged 45 to 64 years from Mississippi, Maryland, Minnesota and North Carolina. Researchers identified incident HF from hospitalization or death certificate disease codes.
After multivariable adjustment, Christine DeLong Jones, MD, of the department of social medicine and department of epidemiology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and colleagues found that orthostatic hypotension was associated with incident HF during 17.5 years of follow-up (HR=1.54; 95% CI, 1.3-1.82), which was also similar across race and sex groups.
Researchers noted a stronger association between orthostatic hypotension and incident HF among patients aged 55 years and younger (HR=1.9; 95% CI, 1.41-2.55) vs. those aged 55 years and older (HR=1.37; 95% CI, 1.12-1.69). In secondary analyses, excluding patients with diabetes, CHD and those taking antihypertensives, psychiatric or Parkinson’s disease medications had little effect on the association between orthostatic hypotension and HF. However, when patients with hypertension were excluded, the association between the two lessened (HR=1.34; 95% CI, 1-1.8).
“Orthostatic hypotension appears to be related to the development of HF along with other conditions known to cause HF,” Jones said in a press release. “Hypertension, diabetes and CHD are already known to contribute to a person’s risk of developing HF. Orthostatic BP measurement may supplement what is already known about the risk for HF and requires no additional equipment, just a standard BP cuff.”
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.