Clinical Significance of Bioelectrical Impedance Spectroscopy in Hypertensive Patients With and Without Hypertension Mediated Organ Damage

Objective: To assess whether bioelectrical impedance spectroscopy can identify early metabolic and cellular imbalance in hypertensive patients with asymptomatic mediated organ damage compared with hypertensive patients without them.Design and method: This cross-sectional study included 69 treated hypertensive patients on 2 antihypertensives, aged 43–77 years (23 men, 46 women). Patients were categorized into two groups: without hypertension mediated organ damage (Group 1, n=42) and with asymptomatic organ damage (Group 2, n=27, left ventricular hypetrophy or albuminuria). Bioelectrical impedance spectroscopy was performed using a multifrequency approach (5 kHz – 1000 kHz) to assess body composition, hydration status and cellular integrity, including fat mass, lean mass, body cell mass, intracellular water, overhydration, reactance and phase angle as indicator of cellular function and membrane integrity. Data are automatically processed by the Body Manager BIS software Blood pressure, anthropometric and metabolic laboratory parameters were collected. Group comparisons were performed using the Mann–Whitney U test (p<0.05) Results: Patients with hypertension mediated organ damage were significantly older. Despite similar body mass index and blood pressure values, patients with organ damage had significantly higher fat percentage and lower lean mass, total body water, body cell mass and intracellular water. Phase angle and reactance were significantly reduced in patients with organ damage, indicating impaired cellular membrane integrity. Prediction marker and nutrition index were significantly higher in the organ damage group. Overhydration showed a trend toward higher values in patients with organ damage. Patients with organ damage also had significantly lower low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels, while other metabolic parameters did not differ significantly between groups. Results are summarized in Table 1. Conclusions: Bioelectrical impedance spectroscopy reveals clinically relevant differences in body composition, hydration and cellular function in hypertensive patients with asymptomatic organ damage, despite comparable body mass index and blood pressure. These findings support it as an innovative, non-invasive tool for early identification of metabolic and cellular imbalance associated with hypertension mediated organ damage, enabling a more personalized approach to hypertension management. It is rapid, non-invasive, and objective measurement suitable for outpatient settings.