{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,4]],"date-time":"2026-06-04T10:15:24Z","timestamp":1780568124156,"version":"3.54.1"},"reference-count":35,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"14","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,7,15]],"date-time":"2024-07-15T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1721001600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"\u201cElectrocardiology-Ochojec\u201d Foundation"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Sensors"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background: Hypertension and atherosclerotic cardiovascular diseases (ASCVD) increase cardiovascular risk and worsen patients\u2019 prognoses. One early predictor of increased risk is a change in arterial stiffness. This study aimed to evaluate arterial stiffness parameters using the non-invasive photoplethysmography (PPG) method in Polish patients with arterial hypertension (AH) and\/or atherosclerosis (AS). Methods: The study group consisted of 333 patients (Caucasians, both sexes, aged 30\u201385 years old). Patients were analyzed in four groups depending on AH and AS (Group I: patients without AH or AS, Group II: AH patients, Group III: AS patients, and Group IV: AH\/AS patients) and, in addition, according to sex and history of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Arterial stiffness parameters, i.e., reflection index (RI), peak-to-peak time (PPT), and stiffness index (SI) were automatically calculated with PPG based on the analysis of the pulse wave contour. Results: Mean values of RI and SI were higher in men than women (p &lt; 0.001 each). Diastolic blood pressure (DBP) also differed between sexes (p = 0.010). Mean SI values differed between the study groups (p = 0.038) with the highest SI found in AS\/AH patients and the lowest\u2014in patients without AH or AS. The mean SI values were significantly lower in women compared to men in both Group I and Group II (p = 0.006 and p &lt; 0.001, respectively). The mean values of RI were also greater in men than in women in Group I and Group II (p &lt; 0.001 for each group). Regarding COVID-19 history, only HR values differed between patients with and without COVID-19 in AH patients (p = 0.012). In AH patients, men had higher values of RI and SI compared to women (p &lt; 0.001 and p &lt; 0.001). On the other hand, AS women with COVID-19 had significantly greater mean values of SI (9.66 m\/s \u00b1 1.61) than men with COVID-19 (7.98 m\/s \u00b1 1.09) (p = 0.045). Conclusions: The present study confirmed that sex had a significant impact on arterial stiffness parameters. Both AH and AS affected arterial stiffness. Heart rate was greater in hypertensive patients after COVID-19 compared to hypertensive patients without COVID-19.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/s24144572","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,7,15]],"date-time":"2024-07-15T14:15:49Z","timestamp":1721052949000},"page":"4572","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":6,"title":["Do Photopletysmographic Parameters of Arterial Stiffness Differ Depending on the Presence of Arterial Hypertension and\/or Atherosclerosis?"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"24","author":[{"given":"Izabela","family":"Szo\u0142tysek-Bo\u0142dys","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of General and Inorganic Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences in Sosnowiec, Medical University of Silesia in Katowice, 41-200 Sosnowiec, Poland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1241-6225","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Wioleta","family":"Zieli\u0144ska-Danch","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of General and Inorganic Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences in Sosnowiec, Medical University of Silesia in Katowice, 41-200 Sosnowiec, Poland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2932-6269","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Danuta","family":"\u0141oboda","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Electrocardiology and Heart Failure, Medical University of Silesia in Katowice, 40-635 Katowice, Poland"},{"name":"Department of Electrocardiology, Upper-Silesian Medical Centre in Katowice, 40-635 Katowice, Poland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5722-7976","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Krzysztof S.","family":"Go\u0142ba","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Electrocardiology and Heart Failure, Medical University of Silesia in Katowice, 40-635 Katowice, Poland"},{"name":"Department of Electrocardiology, Upper-Silesian Medical Centre in Katowice, 40-635 Katowice, Poland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0002-8591","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Beata","family":"Sarecka-Hujar","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Basic Biomedical Science, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences in Sosnowiec, Medical University of Silesia in Katowice, 41-200 Sosnowiec, Poland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,7,15]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"677","DOI":"10.4070\/kcj.2004.34.7.677","article-title":"Assessment of the Arterial Stiffness Index as a Clinical Parameter for Atherosclerotic Coronary Artery Disease","volume":"34","author":"Park","year":"2004","journal-title":"Korean Circ. 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