Association between Pulse Pressure and Coronary Heart Disease in Korean Elderly: The 7th Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2016-2018)

Abstract

Background: Although the pulse pressure (PP) is an independent predictor of coronary heart disease (CHD), many physicians disregard its importance and there have been no recent studies on Korean elderly. We investigated the association between PP and CHD in Korean elderly through the nationwide, observational study. Methods: This study included 4100 subjects aged ≥65 years from the 7th Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2016-2018). Pulse pressure was calculated as the difference between the systolic blood pressure (SBP) and the diastolic blood pressure (DBP), and high PP was defined as ≥60 mmHg. Subjects diagnosed with angina pectoris or myocardial infarction were classified into the CHD group. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed to evaluate the association between PP and CHD. Results: Among the subjects, the incidence of high PP was higher in women, while CHD was higher in men. Subjects with high PP were older, had higher SBP, lower DBP and higher FBG compared to subjects with normal PP. After adjustment for multiple covariates, participants with high PP had a higher risk for incidence of CHD with an OR of 1.361 (95% of CI: 1.077-1.719). Conclusions: In this study, we found the significant association between PP and CHD in Korean elderly.