Nailfold capillary changes in newly diagnosed hypertensive patients: An observational analytical study

Introduction: Nail Fold capillaroscopy (NFC) is used to evaluate microvascular changes in the horizontally lying capillaries in the proximal nail fold. Arterial hypertension affects the microvascular beds producing structural changes. Our objective was to evaluate qualitative and quantitative NFC changes in newly diagnosed hypertensives as compared to age and sex matched normotensive controls and to determine association, if any, with microvascular changes visualized on fundoscopy. Materials and methods: This observational, analytical study involved 41 newly diagnosed hypertensives (18-60 years) with 41 normotensive age and sex matched normotensive controls. The mean capillary density (MCD) and morphological changes were assessed for all, while fundoscopy was done for study group participants. The collected data was statistically analyzed. Results: The MCD in newly diagnosed hypertensives (5.21 +/- 0.90 capillaries/mm) was significantly lower than normotensive controls (6.50 +/- 0.65 capillaries/mm) (p < 0.001) in our study. Qualitative morphologic changes were more common in hypertensive patients including meandering capillaries, capillary dilation, avascular areas, bushy capillaries, and microhemorrhages (p value <0.001). Capillary disarray (73.17%) was a unique morphologic change seen significantly more commonly in study group (p < 0.001). Among hypertensives, MCD was lesser in patients with retinopathy (p = 0.125) and with microalbuminuria, while avascular areas and dilated capillaries were significantly more common. Conclusion: Our study supports the role of NFC with USB dermatoscope in detecting unique microvascular morphological alterations in hypertensives, which were more frequent as well as distinctive, as compared to healthy controls. A good correlation with fundoscopic features and microalbuminuria suggests that it could be useful in predicting/detecting cardiovascular, or renal complications early, with an advantage of easy accessibility and repeatability.

Automated summary

The study found that the newly diagnosed hypertensive patients had significantly lower capillary density compared to normotensive controls, with more morphological changes such as capillary disarray, dilation, and microhemorrhages. NFC plays an important role in detecting microvascular morphological alterations in hypertensive patients, which may help in early prediction of cardiovascular or renal complications.