Background As a major regulator of local vascular
homeostasis, the endothelium maintains vascular tone
through the balance between vasodilatation and vasoconstriction.
Upsetting this tight balance leads to endothelial
dysfunction . The latter is thought to be a marker of future
cardiovascular events in hypertensive patients.
The purpose of this research was to assess endothelial vasomotor
function with relation to heart rate variability in
adolescents with arterial hypertension.
Material and methods 56 adolescents (33 males, 23 females,
aged 22 ± 2 years) were subdivided into equal
groups (regarding gender, age, body mass index and genetic
burden) according to hypertension appearance and
smoking habits. All of them underwent forearm
rheovasography with measurements of reactive hyperemia
test heart rate variability being taken (a five-minute recording).
As reliable values for evaluating endothelial function,
relative changes in the peak blood flow velocity (DdZ/
/dT) and pulse blood volume (DdV) at the 1st min after
reperfusion were used. The following parameters of the
time (RRNN, SDNN, RMSSD, pNN50, CV) and frequency
(TP, VLF, LF, HF; LF/HF) domain analysis were
used for assessing heart rate modulation. Results Our analysis elicited a significant difference in both
velocity and volume characteristics between hypertensive
smokers and healthy individuals. Endothelial function in
hypertensive non-smoking patients and normotensive smokers
was also impaired. Heart rate variability was decreased
and sympathetic tone prevailed in hypertensive adolescents.
Both are associated with endothelial dysfunction.
Conclusions Endothelial function is likely to be impaired
in hypertensive adolescents, particularly among those who
smoke. Moreover, heart rate variability is decreased and
sympathetic tone prevails with relation to endothelial dysfunction
towards the autonomic imbalance
