D-Dimer Levels in Sudanese Hypertensive Patients

Hypertension is the most important modifiable risk factor for coronary heart disease, stroke, congestive heart failure, end-stage renal disease and peripheral vascular disease. The haemostatic system is directly involved in the atherosclerotic process and may affect the impact of hypertension on the development of target-organ damage. The aim of this study was to determine the level of D-dimer among Sudanese hypertensive patients. The study included 60 Sudanese hypertensive patients, their D-dimer levels, PT and APTT were measured and compared with 60 age and sex matched normal subjects as control. The male: female ratio was 1.1 and the median age was 52 year, with minimum age of 29 and maximum of 70 years, mean duration of hypertension among the study group was 5.13±3.8 years. We observed higher D-dimer levels among the hypertensive patients, when compared with the normal healthy controls (p value 0.000). Our study showed no differences in the PT and APTT values between hypertensive patients and normal subjects. This study concluded that D-Dimer levels were higher among Sudanese hypertensive patients than in controls and confirmed the hypercoagulable state among hypertensive patients.