Relationship between noninvasive central blood pressure and brain natriuretic peptide levels in patients with hypertensive pulmonary edema

Objective Hypertensive pulmonary edema is a fatal condition unless early and properly diagnosed and managed. Central blood pressure (cBP) has been proven to be more associated with adverse cardiovascular events. We aimed to study the correlation between cBP and heart damage in patients with Hypertensive pulmonary edema. Methods We included 50 patients admitted to the emergency department in a university hospital for hypertensive pulmonary edema, 27 women and 23 men aged 50 to 70 years. We excluded patients with suspected acute coronary syndrome, significant valvular heart disease, and pericardial diseases. We measured cBP non-invasively from pulse wave analysis of the brachial artery. Brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) and cBP were repeatedly measured for every patient. Results The median BNP levels of patients significantly decreased from 284 pg/ml (232-352.5) to 31.5 pg/ml (24-54) on discharge, P < 0.001. We found a significant correlation between admission BNP and central SBP (cSBP), urea, creatinine, arterial blood gases parameters, and left ventricular end-diastolic diameter (LVEDD). Concurrently, BNP at discharge was correlated with age, central DBP (cDBP), urea, creatinine, LVEDD, partial oxygen pressure (pO(2)), and oxygen saturation (SO2). Delta BNP was correlated with cSBP, peripheral SBP, urea, creatinine, pO(2), and SO2. Linear regression analysis revealed that creatinine, and cSBP, were independent predictors of admission BNP, while urea and cDBP were the independent predictors of discharge BNP. Conclusion This simple, noninvasive method of cBP measurement was significantly associated with the extent of myocardial damage in patients presenting with hypertensive pulmonary edema.